[PrideRed]

If Sergio Marchionne's words are to be believed, Europe will see less Fiat's going forward.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/gen...t-choking-fiat

Fiat, once one of the most interesting and biggest-selling car brands in Europe, is declining fast. Yet the Fiat Chrysler Group boss, Sergio Marchionne, doesn’t think it’s worth doing much about that. He told Top Gear the investment is better put elsewhere.

“We made significant efforts in Jeep, and in the development of Alfa Romeo and Maserati. That’s a better use of our resources.” He turns to the Group’s European boss Alfredo Altavilla: “Sorry Alfredo, maybe that sounds like a bad answer.”

He says he thinks the 500, 500X and Panda are worth pursuing. “I’m less enamoured with the Tipo. We have to be careful in deploying large amounts of capital in chasing an overcrowded market.” You might reply that the problem with the Tipo was that they haven’t deployed enough effort: it’s a pretty ropey car.

He doesn’t even mention the prehistoric Punto, which has now been pulled from the UK but limps on in Italy. Almost inconceivably given the company pretty well invented the category with the 127 in 1971, there is now no Fiat supermini here.
Marchionne’s basic thesis is that he won’t try to buck a changing market. “All our brands develop along with the market.” The growth in SUVs and pickup trucks has benefitted Jeep and Ram in the US. “We’ve been discussing SUVs in Europe. Your guess is as good as mine as to where this will grow to, but we have to make an estimate and we’re saying 40 per cent of the European market will soon be SUVs. It’s nonsensical to morph Fiat onto that when we have Jeep.

So what that means us in India?
1. Most likely that we won't see any new Fiat's.
2. The showrooms which sport Jeep, Abarth and Fiat logo, will forego the latter two.
3. Or if Fiat decides to focus on developing nations, India might become their hub.

[GTO]

Nice article, thanks! I don't think too much of Sergio as a businessman, however I love his interviews as he's very frank and has his own unique style of speaking.

Can't blame him. The small hatchback scene is largely commoditized in such markets (we're seeing some of that in India too). The differentiators are few, profit margins razor thin, R&D costs huge and customers finicky. If you have limited moolah (as Fiat-Chrysler does), you'd much rather spend it on Jeep & Alfa Romeo where the brand equity is higher + profits fatter.

Only a few carmakers (like Suzuki) can make money in the bottom 10- 20% of the market. And an even fewer number have a brand that sell in the higher segments. Fiat does with Jeep & Alfa Romeo, so why not leave the scraps for the others.

In a way, he's saying that Fiat Europe will take the direction of Fiat India . Less focus on hatchbacks & sedans (Punto & Linea are dead here), with a majority of resources being given to Jeep SUVs (even here, Compass is the main focus of FCA). For once, Fiat India might have led its parent company.