Fiat’s Small-Car Bet Falters With Americans Embracing Big Trucks
The company had high hopes when it brought back its minicars in 2011, but cheap gas and SUVs are hurting its sales.
A 2014 Fiat 500L.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
When the lease was up on Ed Kim’s 2015 Fiat 500L, he and his wife went through four Los Angeles area dealerships before they found one willing to take back the car. Three had dropped the Fiat brand from their stores—including the one that originally leased him the car. “We had this orphaned car in our driveway that we needed to bring back, with no dealership willing to take it in,” says Kim. “It was such a weird and bizarre situation.”
Kim’s troubles are a sign of just how much Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV’s American experiment with stylish Italian microcars has failed to live up to expectations. Fiat brand sales in the U.S. peaked at about 46,000 in 2014, with the addition of the roomier 500L, and have been in free fall ever since. They were down 45 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2019, after a 41 percent plunge last year to 15,521, the lowest level since the brand’s reintroduction to the U.S. in 2011.