Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne has put to rest any lingering hope that the Fiat brand has a significant future in North America.
Yes, Fiat vehicles will continue to be sold here, but there are no new products coming and no planned investment in the brand in the region. Instead, Marchionne said — while laying out the group's five-year plan on June 1 — that the portfolio will be reduced to a version of the 500 minicar with an all-electric powertrain, the 124 Spider, which is built by Mazda, and the Fiat Panda, which is sold in Europe.
For long-suffering Fiat dealers in the U.S. — many of whom spent millions building upscale, stand-alone studios to support Fiat's 2011 return to North America — the brand's bleak product future is one more bitter pill to swallow.
Fiat dealers deserve better than to be slowly starved out of existence by the factory, especially given the brand's "poorly executed" 2011 return to the U.S., for which Marchionne in 2012 took full blame.
To be sure, those mostly Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram dealers were under no obligation to open a Fiat franchise when given the opportunity after Fiat S.p.A. assumed control of a bankrupt Chrysler in 2009. Dealers did so largely as a sign of faith in a new owner that had lifted other Chrysler brands, and in the man who led the recovery, Marchionne.
They also signed on — and held on and on — because they were told it would position them to win what promised to be a more lucrative Alfa Romeo franchise when that storied brand re-emerged.
But Marchionne's insistence that Fiat be kept separate from the larger American brands was a needless burden to dealers, and while Alfa Romeo's return has begun, it is well behind schedule.
Fiat's failure in the U.S. is no fault of its dealers, who deserve better treatment than to be forced to watch the brand waste away through the factory's neglect. FCA should find a way to properly compensate Fiat dealers for leaving their dealers high and dry.