Fiat is playing the heritage card, using the retro-styled 500 to recapture the US Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Back in the USA
Fiat is playing the heritage card, using the retro-styled 500 to recapture the US Braving the chilly Michigan winter, Carl Galeana is getting ready to bring a bit of sunny Italian glamour to America's often drab motor city.
In recent weeks, his 12,000 square car dealership in suburban Detroit has changed beyond recognition.
Though it is a bit of a building site at the moment, the square concrete building will soon have been converted from a General Motors Saturn dealership to one stocked with a colourful array of Fiat 500 models, complete with service bays around the back.
"I should have it up and running by the middle of February," Mr Galeana says as he surveys the building that will soon be glass-fronted with a pillared front reading FIAT in large, capital letters.
Soon the dealership in Warren, Michigan, will be stocked with a colourful array of Fiat 500 models Fiat's arrival in Warren, Michigan, has been warmly welcomed by the locals, not least because about one in 10 of them are of Italian American decent, explains Mr Galeana.
"They're extremely passionate about Fiat," he grins.
The passion is not expected to immediately translate into sales, however.
During the first year, Mr Galeana expects to sell no more than 250-300 cars, which he acknowledges "is not a great amount of vehicles".
But it is a start - and one that the company will build on.
"We're entering this market after an absence of 27 years," says Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of both Fiat and its alliance partner Chrysler.
So before sales can begin to climb, the brand needs to be noticed.
Sergio Marchionne Chief executive, Fiat and Chrysler“Buying a Fiat 500 is a lifestyle statement”
Initially, the tiny 500's job will be to re-introduce the Fiat brand to the US.
"It's very much like the Mini," says Mr Galeana, referring to the two cars' retro-design.
In addition, adds Mr Marchionne, "the car represents all the iconic Italian values".
The hope is to ramp up Fiat 500 sales to 60-65,000 cars per year.
And gradually, as customer awareness grows, other Fiat models will follow, perhaps during next year or the year after.
Fiat's return to the US comes amidst much concern about petrol prices rising towards $4 a gallon and talk of growing demand for smaller, less thirsty cars - not just in the US, but across the world.
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