Most liked posts in thread: Fiat 500, no threat at all

Fiat USA is asking itself a question this week. Is its new viral Youtube video for the Fiat 500 Abarth too racy to run as an ad on TV?

The Abarth is a performance version of the Fiat 500 that hit showrooms last spring. In Europe, where the current version of the car has been on sale for several years, it is known as the Cinquecento.

Fiat is trying to establish awareness in the U.S. after a 25 year absence. On Sunday, the company arranged for Jennifer Lopez, who has been appearing in Fiat ads, to appear to drive the 500 Gucci edition on the stage of the American Music Awards broadcast on ABC.

Fiat, and Europe in general, is known for running ads that are much more sexually suggestive than ads that run in the U.S.,

In the ad, titled "Seduction," a geeky looking man is walking down the street when he spots a gorgeous model bent over adjusting the strap on her shoe. She notices him gazing at her, and, shouting in Italian, chastises him for ogling her. The encounter, though, quickly turns gentler and she whispers in his ear, dips her finger in the foam in his latte, and then ... well, you'll have to view the ad to decide if the imagery is too suggestive for America's more Puritan eyes and ears.

"Networks in the U.S. have much stricter standards, which makes the ads we see in the U.S. routinely less interesting than what you see in Europe and South America," says AOL Autos Editor-in-Chief David Kiley, who is a former editor and columnist at ad industry magazine Adweek. "The other issue you have in the U.S. is that religious-based 'family' organizations will start issuing press releases and organizing boycotts if they think an ad is corrupting on some level, or has too much sexual innuendo."

Fiat CEO Olivier Francois, who also oversees marketing of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep in the U.S., said the U.S. agency who created the ad, Dallas-based Richards Group, "intended it to be viral, but I am considering running it as an ad too, but I'm not sure. It may be too much."

What do you think?

 

Hey, there was no "Wardrobe Malfunction".... Didn't offend me at all.

The MINI ads can be more risque, but then again most of their "questionable ads" are shown on Youtube to a younger hip crowd, with toned down versions in magazines, newspapers and TV.

 

Not bad, I have an Italian friend with a lightly tuned 09 JCW that really wants the Abarth. Although he grew up with Fiats in Italy.

The JCW will be for-sale in a year or so, it currently has less than 3K miles on it, I suspect it will not break 4K miles any time soon. I drive it more than him. :lol:

Don

 

US Abarth e-brochure: http://www.fiatusa.com/abarth/post_event/pdf/abarth_ebrochure.pdf

 

That is so wrong on so many levels......

 

Jenny was overheard saying......

Are you crazy, I'm not going back to the block...... I drink Evian now

 

That looks really good, but I don't think that normal sized, centrality located, speedometer, that you can actually use is going to catch on. What were they thinking. :lol:

Jim

 

Fiat 500 takes it on the chin...again

From Automotive News

 

Watched the crash test videos last night. To my untrained eye it looks like it did OK, but I'm no engineer or do I play one on TV. It is amazing how much better cars are at protecting folks these days.

Me thinks that active safety should also be tested. Could a car get the heck out of the way in crash situation? To me that is every bit as important as what happens when it all goes pear shaped.

 

HAHAHAHA....

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsixwikujq0]Fiat 500 cayuga 15 psi turbo wheellie - YouTube[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQsKF2xgops]fiat 500 10 40 runs 003 - YouTube[/ame]

 

Sweet video Chuck. Man that little 500 has some spicy meatballs.

 

Where to 50,000 Sales projected sales figure came from

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of both Fiat and Chrysler Group, said that while he's pleased with the re-launch of the Fiat brand in North America last year, he was "incredibly naive" to think he'd sell 50,000 of the tiny cars in the U.S. in 2011.

The company sold only 19,769 Fiat 500's in the U.S. last year. But Marchionne said the huge miss of the sales target was not a problem.

He said he chose the original sales target hoping to beat the 45,644 cars sold of the popular Mini Cooper, sold in 2010.

"It was a number that we said would be in excess of what Mini was selling in the United States. It was that simple," he said about the target.

Plans to introduce other cars to the line by 2013 and to expand the dealer network remain on track, he said.

"Let's be honest, we sold 2,009,000 cars in 2011," he said about Chrysler Group's global sales. In the grand scheme of things, he said the missed sales target for the Fiat 500 "is a rounding error."

"We set ourselves up for a fall," he said about the miss. "The future of Fiat is exactly the same as when we launched it."

He said the 2012 target for the 500 is between 25,000 and 35,000 in the United States and another 5,000 in Canada. Overall, the target for Chrysler Group's global sales is 2.4 million.

 

You miss your goal by more than 50% and it's merely "A rounding error"? He should run for Congress.....

 

I'll bet all those new US Fiat dealers are thrilled with the new leaders speech.....

 

And we wonder why the American manufacturers fail... Miss your sales goals by more than 50%? No biggie... It cannot possibly be because they design crap. Rounding error... WTF?

 

Is Sergio American?

One would hope that they do much better at how many wheels they get bolted on correctly.....

 

Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4
Year	US Deliveries	Change from previous year	Launch to date
2002	24,590	n/a	24,590
2003	36,010	46.4%	60,600
2004	36,032	0.1%	96,632
2005	40,820	13.0%	137,452
2006	39,171	-4.0%	176,623
2007	42,045	7.3%	218,668
2008	54,077	28.6%	272,745
2009	45,225	-16.4%	317,970
2010	45,644	0.9%	363,614
2011	57,511	26.0%	421,125

 

France did send some cars here last year.........they sold 9 Bugatti Veyrons in the USA last year............

:lol:



Hmmm........wonder how many Fiat 500's that would be? :crazy: