Posted on 10/24/2009 4:46:53 PM PDT by jamese777
As part of the Fiat - Chrysler alliance, the Italian carmaker will bring several new models in the United States but the 500 mini car will be the only one to be sold under the Fiat badge. The car is going to be produced by Chrysler in Mexico and, according to people close to the matter, the US-based former bankrupt automaker has already required suppliers to make sure that their parts are enough for around 100,000 Fiat 500.
The Fiat 500 produced in Mexico will be sold in the US, Canada and South America, Bloomberg reported, with initial production goals pointing to 104,000 to 120,000 vehicles per year.
"We don"t think it will be priced much lower than the Mini Cooper, and if that is the case we think it will have a fairly limited appeal," he said.
Previous rumors hinted that Fiat will initially sell a limited volume of 500 mini cars in the United States and will deliver them to customers through Chrysler's dealership network. However, it's still unclear how many stores will actually offer the model in Chrysler's domestic market.
"The Fiat 500 - we see that, like the Mini, as a sort of boutique car that we think we can sell in good numbers on the East and West coasts in the same way that Mini has been successful in the U.S.," Richard Gadeselli, vice president of Fiat communications in Italy, said earlier this year.
(Excerpt) Read more at autoevolution.com ...
Take that, UAW
Oh, I am sure that Chrysler’s business model is going to make its stock just soar!!!!
New production in Mexico. Are those jobs part of the millions of jobs The Joker promised to save or create?
When will people wake up to the fact that the president can’t create jobs except for bureaucrat jobs for probing into the lives of decent people?
Sell them here, make them here. It’s what’s for dinner.
Yeah, but what a mealy-mouthed, generic looking car it is.
Bwaaaaaaahaaaaaaahaaaaaaa!!! bb
FIAT bought a dealership network at a fire sale.
The headline for this thread is spelled just about right! Crysler instead of Chrysler because there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth! Just like Nash and Romney’s daddy’s American Moters rambled right off the scene in the 1960’s!!! (and alla Henry J. Kaiser/Frasers in the 1950’s)(my favorite was Willy’s which is now buried with Crysler/Fiat)
Fix It Again Tony.
The UAW owns, what, 17% of Chrysler? So they're screwing themselves to pay themselves?
The Community organizer will have us looking like Mexico by the end of his term.
If you were a manufacturer who could build in one jurisdiction or an adjacent jurisdiction, and the first jurisdiction was considering a number of variants of health care reform that would increase the cost of labor significantly, why wouldn’t you elect to build in the adjacent jurisdiction - embed the labor in the finished car or major sub-assemblies, then import?
Doesn’t anyone consider that the recovery will be delayed by jobs NOT being created the US out of fear that once the health care reform regime is decided on - it will make labor considerably more expensive? The choice is the substitution of capital for labor - either you apply more automation and less labor or you move the labor consumption offshore.
Ha ha, pricing a Fiat near the price of a Mini Cooper. Good luck with that. The last experience Americans had with Fiat was trying to get their cars home from the dealership before they fell apart and/or rusted away. It may not be true now, but it takes a long time to build a reputation, or fix one. BTW, I’m glad to see that this will be putting more Americans to work - North Americans. What a disappointment.
It will sell - in San Francisco, and maybe Miami.
They can skip having dealerships in Nebraska, Alabama or Montana.
I shoulda ping you guys to that reply. You’re both old enough to remember the Willy’s without gittin the willies!!!
Will it come loaded with drugs?
Keywords..."had" and "once"
FWIW they DID get 54 As a former R-16 owner I admittedly have a soft spot in my...head....for Fine French Automobiles....sigh...shoot me.
prisoner6
Now that’s funny...in a sick sort of way.
One heckuva fun car! Kinda like driving a go kart on the street.
Wife made me get rid of mine when when she was pregnant with our first child.
FWIW I became VERY GOOD at rebuilding the 2 bbl downdraft carb. Could do it on the side of the road in less than 5 minutes.
prisoner6
Now that’s funny...in a sick sort of way.
The outsourcing model has failed.
Fiat becomes Si!at!
prisoner6
Mmmmm, mmmmmm, mmmmm - made in Mexico. So are illegal aliens heading home for the jobs?
Mini sells about 50k per year in the US, of course with the backing of a robust parent, BMW.
I’d be amazed if Fiat can do half that with the 500.
I was being tolerant. My sister had a Fiat that I used to maintain you ain’t telling nothing new.
Hey, I still have a 124 Spyder...1977.
Want it?
Actually I would LOVE to have a - working - 124!
prisoner6
My son has a new muffler for it...
I will never buy a gm or chrysler vehicle.
16 bent valves later, the car was never the same.
I still think it was a very stylish design for the time.
Too small for me, but it’s nicely done.
I had a Mexico Chrysler when I was in St.Croix, USVI. Very Good car, also two VW Things, one on VI and one in US. All good cars. French cars? Only the good old Deaux Chevaux (Built with the integrity of lawn furniture). GM/Chrys, NEVERMORE! Fiat, not even before Hussain.
barbra ann
Chrysler
Fiat
Mexico
This just screams quality, doesn’t it?
That's generally the case for all vehicles.
The Fusion is built in Mexico and has a good reputation for reliability. Apart from that, I agree.
Yes, you are right. I remember the Pontiac Aztec as well. LOL
Hey, I might need it...you’re not that far away.
LOL
I was lucky on the rust. Bought it in Winnipeg Canada where it is so cold, salt doesn’t work. Then in ‘78 came to California and it has been garaged ever since. One spot of rust about the size of a quarter...and that’s been there forever.
The best thing about the Fiat is the clutch action. It is perfect. I have a Pontiac Solstice and the clutch rides far too high. And changing a clutch cable on a Fiat is child’s play.
I saw an Aztec the other day. The strange thing was that it didn’t look strange anymore. It looks like every other “crossover” out there.
I remember when cars were cars and trucks were trucks, for the most part.
SUVs became common because people wanted what the station wagon provided, but CAFE made station wagons too difficult to produce. They didn’t get the mileage of a typical sedan. The pickup platforms of most SUVs were classified differently and thus provided some needed leeway with government regulations.
Why the demise of the station wagon and ascendancy of SUVs? Government regulations.
Take that, any liberal readers out there.
Lot of Fords and Mazdas are built by Mexicans too. But, not being a government entity, they actually insist on quality work. Plenty of other Mexicans to take the place of any who won't do good work, and no union to defend their sorry selves.
Sounds like a new way to import drugs without the hassle of the middle man.
“I will never buy a gm or chrysler vehicle.”
The 850 Spyder? yeah ,, my insurance agent used to auto-x one ,, 4cyl air cooled rear engine .. weighed about the same as a Honda 600 .. fun car.
FIAT is crazy if they think they can get MINI/BMW money for a 500 ... not gonna happen.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.