With the new Fiat 500, Chrysler Group is giving US car buyers something they don’t usually see these days: a dizzying array of options and feature choices.
The 500, on sale in January, will be available in three versions – Lounge, Sport and Pop – with 14 exterior colours, 14 seat colours, six wheel styles and a range of graphical designs that can be applied to the car’s body panels, allowing customers to make their Fiat just about the only one of its kind, the Wall Street Journal noted. All told, Chrysler said, there will be about a half million combinations.
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Chrysler hopes the chance to individualise the tiny 500 will draw a wide range of customers, from teens buying their first car to baby-boomers downsizing to a smaller vehicle.
BMW’s rival Mini, another retro model, allows 10m combinations for the three-door hatchback version, according to its US website.
“A 16-year-old can really play up the [500’s] exterior with the graphics packages, while older customers may be more interested in the interiors and adding more sophistication,” Laura Soave, the head of the Fiat brand for Chrysler, told the WSJ.
In the past, automakers learned the risks in offering seemingly infinite option combinations. One of the biggest is that companies may produce configurations that few customers want, such as a model that is loaded with pricey options but also oddly fitted with a manual transmission.
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By GlobalDataToo many choices also can leave dealers holding lots of cars but not the exact one a particular customer is looking for – a recipe for losing a sale, said Mark Rikess, an auto dealer consultant based in Los Angeles. That’s because most US customers [unlike those in Europe and many other markets – ed] don’t want to wait for the model they want to be shipped from another dealer or custom-made at the factory.
“We are an instant-gratification society,” said Rikess. “About 80% of car buyers expect to drive off the lot with their new car that day.”
For the last several years, car makers have tried hard to bundle features so they can produce a dozen or so versions of a vehicle that will satisfy most buyers. That limits the complexity on the factory floor and dealership lots.
To allow customers to order specialised models, Chrysler has retooled the plant in Mexico where the 500 is being built. Scott Garberding, Chrysler’s manufacturing chief, said the factory had been set up to move special orders to the front of the manufacturing queue.
Suppliers have been asked to keep more parts on hand so they can more quickly build a seat or interior combination and ship it to the plant within a few hours, Garberding said. The plant also will use a paint system that will allow a faster changeover in colours.
When orders begin coming in “we will see what the wish list is before we start building the cars so we can know ahead of time what the trend is going to be,” Soave said.
Still, some customers may have to wait 30 days or more to get their custom-ordered car.
Soave, a former Volkswagen and Ford executive, said she believes the urban consumers Chrysler is targeting will be willing to wait to get just the vehicle they want.
“These are customers that are willing to wait for something that is truly unique and valuable to them, and not simply another commodity,” she said.
For those who don’t want to wait, the company plans to hold a pool of the most popular versions that can be customised with features added at dealerships, such as stripes and checkerboard decals on the roof.
The 500 has a starting price of US$15,500. The company plans to sell the model only in major urban markets, where most small cars are sold. New York, Miami, Chicago and Washington, DC, are expected to be the 500’s top five markets.
The 135 Fiat dealerships, or “studios” as Soave calls them, are decorated with tile and bold colours, designed to immerse customers in a modern Italian feel.
While the car is going by the English name 500 in the US and not “cinquecento” as it’s pronounced in Italy, a little knowledge of Italian will help to sort through the colour choices, the Journal said. Ivory-and-black seats, for example, are “avorio-nero” while the bright red exterior-colour choice is “rosso brillante.”
The 500 will feature a six-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual; a voice-activated stereo and information system; and large cup holders to cater to the US market. Europe’s transmission alternative to manual is an automated manual rather than a full automatic.
Despite the features and copious variations, Fiat’s biggest challenge will be to persuade Americans to buy a tiny car – about five feet shorter than a Chevrolet Impala – at a time when sport utility vehicles remain popular and petrol prices are below $3.25 a gallon.
Chrysler aims to sell about 50,000 Fiat 500s a year in the US, putting it on par with the Mini Cooper – a car aimed at the same hip, urban market.
The Mini, a hit when it debuted in 2002, remains popular. In the first 10 months of this year BMW sold 38,538 Minis in the US according to Autodata.
But some other small cars have struggled. Daimler thought it had a similar hit with the two-seat Smart but, after a strong first year, its US sales have trailed off.
The 500 also faces a few established competitors, including Honda’s Fit [Jazz] and the also Mexican made, Europe-designed Fiesta subcompact from a resurgent Ford.
Soave countered that “the whole story of the Fiat isn’t built just on fuel economy. Miniaturisation is the new trend. People are trying to get just enough of what they need without excess and especially in the metro markets where we are selling those vehicles.”
Chrysler hopes to keep Fiat 500 sales rising by adding a convertible version in spring 2011 followed by an electric version in the fourth quarter of 2012.
