Tweet
Efter detta blir man väl portad här...
Men jag är trots allt optimistisk! (äger 2 FIAT's)
Italian carmaker losing market share
September 5, 2002
MILAN -- Eredi Ingegnere Giorgio Fiore Srl used to buy Fiats for its sales staff. The maker of clothing-label printers switched to Fords four years ago because the Italian cars broke down regularly.
"We were forced to get rid of the Fiats," said Roberto Giuliana, a salesman for the Milan-based company. "We had to replace the engines two or three times. They were unreliable."
Ford Motor Co. and other rivals have exploited that dissatisfaction to win customers. Fiat SpA's Italian market share has fallen by a third in a decade, to about 30 percent, and the auto unit has lost money in seven of the last eight years. Improving the quality of the Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo brands is the backbone of the company's plan to end the sales slide.
"The biggest problem Fiat has is still the perception of the lack of quality," said Nick Potter, an analyst with Theodoor Gillisen in London and an Alfa Romeo driver. "The second most important problem is that its dealership chain is awful in terms of servicing the cars."
Overcoming that perception may be key to Fiat's survival as an independent carmaker. General Motors Corp. already owns 20 percent of the auto unit and Fiat has an option to sell it the rest. The Agnelli family, the people who founded Fiat more than a century ago, may have to resort to selling if the carmaker can't stem losses, analysts said.
"We have to make a big step forward and make clients realize that the quality has improved," Fiat Auto Chief Executive Officer Giancarlo Boschetti said at a meeting with investors in May. "We have had a few problems with quality in the past."
Slowdown in dealerships
In August, sales of the three Fiat-owned brands fell 13 percent in Italy, more than twice the rate of all manufacturers, the Transport Ministry said today. The Turin, Italy-based company's market share slipped from 32.1 percent in August 2001 to 30.2 percent last month.
The carmaker's shares have declined 56 percent in the past 12 months, the biggest drop of any carmaker worldwide.
The quality issue has hurt European sales and forced Fiat to scale back its goal of maintaining 10 percent of the regional market. Fiat's Western European market share slipped from 9.4 percent in June 2001 to 7.2 percent in June 2002.
In Germany, the carmaker's biggest European market outside Italy, Fiat had about 150 mechanical defects per 100 cars sold last year, near the maximum for the market, according to a survey conducted for Fiat and other carmakers. By the same measure, Fiat placed near the top of the industry rangein its home market. The company ranked below the industry average in a survey J.D. Power and Associates conducted to determine British customers' satisfaction.
According to the German auto inspection agency's 2002 report, the Fiat Punto's rear axles and mufflers rust quickly, the manual transmission is imprecise and the brakes don't work well. Fiat Bravos have defective brake lines, the report says.
The birth of the Stilo
Poor quality hurt sales of the Stilo, the compact Fiat unveiled last year to compete with Volkswagen AG's Golf and the Ford Focus. The Stilo was touted as the car that would lead Fiat back to profitability and generally received good marks for performance and style from car reviewers.
After the rollout the Stilo suffered from electrical problems and other minor flaws, said Hubert Jung. The auto industry consultant's Eurotax AG agency spent a month testing the car for Fiat to determine how much value the Stilo would retain in the used-car market compared with competitors.
Fiat quickly rectified most of the Stilo's mechanical defects, but quality concerns have weighed on sales and the resale value, Jung said. Stilo sales fell 20 percent short of the company's targets in the first quarter, and in July, the carmaker cut its forecast for Stilo sales for the second time in two months. Fiat said they would sell 280,000 units next year, less than the 300,000 cars predicted in May.
Company managers said that improving consumers' faith in Fiat cars is the centerpiece of an "action plan" to return to profitability. Fiat has made "substantial progress in the past few years," though "quality perception takes time to change and impacts pricing," the company said in documents it gave analysts in May.
Fiat is improving and they're trying to improve their reputation," said Antonio Pignataro of Auto&Futuro Srl, the Ford dealership in Milan that helped Eredi Ingegnere Giorgio replace its Fiats. "It will take time, though."
Men jag är trots allt optimistisk! (äger 2 FIAT's)
Italian carmaker losing market share
September 5, 2002
MILAN -- Eredi Ingegnere Giorgio Fiore Srl used to buy Fiats for its sales staff. The maker of clothing-label printers switched to Fords four years ago because the Italian cars broke down regularly.
"We were forced to get rid of the Fiats," said Roberto Giuliana, a salesman for the Milan-based company. "We had to replace the engines two or three times. They were unreliable."
Ford Motor Co. and other rivals have exploited that dissatisfaction to win customers. Fiat SpA's Italian market share has fallen by a third in a decade, to about 30 percent, and the auto unit has lost money in seven of the last eight years. Improving the quality of the Fiat, Lancia and Alfa Romeo brands is the backbone of the company's plan to end the sales slide.
"The biggest problem Fiat has is still the perception of the lack of quality," said Nick Potter, an analyst with Theodoor Gillisen in London and an Alfa Romeo driver. "The second most important problem is that its dealership chain is awful in terms of servicing the cars."
Overcoming that perception may be key to Fiat's survival as an independent carmaker. General Motors Corp. already owns 20 percent of the auto unit and Fiat has an option to sell it the rest. The Agnelli family, the people who founded Fiat more than a century ago, may have to resort to selling if the carmaker can't stem losses, analysts said.
"We have to make a big step forward and make clients realize that the quality has improved," Fiat Auto Chief Executive Officer Giancarlo Boschetti said at a meeting with investors in May. "We have had a few problems with quality in the past."
Slowdown in dealerships
In August, sales of the three Fiat-owned brands fell 13 percent in Italy, more than twice the rate of all manufacturers, the Transport Ministry said today. The Turin, Italy-based company's market share slipped from 32.1 percent in August 2001 to 30.2 percent last month.
The carmaker's shares have declined 56 percent in the past 12 months, the biggest drop of any carmaker worldwide.
The quality issue has hurt European sales and forced Fiat to scale back its goal of maintaining 10 percent of the regional market. Fiat's Western European market share slipped from 9.4 percent in June 2001 to 7.2 percent in June 2002.
In Germany, the carmaker's biggest European market outside Italy, Fiat had about 150 mechanical defects per 100 cars sold last year, near the maximum for the market, according to a survey conducted for Fiat and other carmakers. By the same measure, Fiat placed near the top of the industry rangein its home market. The company ranked below the industry average in a survey J.D. Power and Associates conducted to determine British customers' satisfaction.
According to the German auto inspection agency's 2002 report, the Fiat Punto's rear axles and mufflers rust quickly, the manual transmission is imprecise and the brakes don't work well. Fiat Bravos have defective brake lines, the report says.
The birth of the Stilo
Poor quality hurt sales of the Stilo, the compact Fiat unveiled last year to compete with Volkswagen AG's Golf and the Ford Focus. The Stilo was touted as the car that would lead Fiat back to profitability and generally received good marks for performance and style from car reviewers.
After the rollout the Stilo suffered from electrical problems and other minor flaws, said Hubert Jung. The auto industry consultant's Eurotax AG agency spent a month testing the car for Fiat to determine how much value the Stilo would retain in the used-car market compared with competitors.
Fiat quickly rectified most of the Stilo's mechanical defects, but quality concerns have weighed on sales and the resale value, Jung said. Stilo sales fell 20 percent short of the company's targets in the first quarter, and in July, the carmaker cut its forecast for Stilo sales for the second time in two months. Fiat said they would sell 280,000 units next year, less than the 300,000 cars predicted in May.
Company managers said that improving consumers' faith in Fiat cars is the centerpiece of an "action plan" to return to profitability. Fiat has made "substantial progress in the past few years," though "quality perception takes time to change and impacts pricing," the company said in documents it gave analysts in May.
Fiat is improving and they're trying to improve their reputation," said Antonio Pignataro of Auto&Futuro Srl, the Ford dealership in Milan that helped Eredi Ingegnere Giorgio replace its Fiats. "It will take time, though."
Comment