Sergio Marchionne has been reported by Automotive News as saying that Fiat will not be a mass market brand. Instead it will focus on its 500-series small cars and let Jeep and Alfa Romeo compete in other sectors.
Rather surprisingly, given Alfa Romeo´s very limited and lacklustre range, Marchionne thinks AR will be able to grow and supply cars in the C and C-D class along with a mooted SUV. Given the steady steaming of vapour ware from this brand, and the poor reception of the current cars, this is a very tall order. The other worrying thing is that Fiat Chrysler Automotive have let Lancia die and Fiat´s scope dwindle so they are a purveyor of small cars with a rather restrictive template.
The runes for AR do not read well as past form indicates that Fiat is rather poor in its stewardship of its brands. A decade ago Fiat had a full range of cars and AR had a varied portfolio of vehicles from medium-small, to medium to large plus two sports cars. Will we be reading in another decade that AR will not be a mass-market player either – it isn´t one now. I don´t see that changing unless somehow the much-promised crop of cars includes at least two class-competitive strong sellers that can be bought without reservation.
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