THE AUTOEXTREMIST

November 23, 2011

Fixing Fiat.

By Peter M. De Lorenzo

(Posted 11/22, 11:30 a.m.) Detroit. Well, that was special. After stonewalling negative questions, ignoring the facts and dismal sales statistics, and dismissing critics like myself as being “inconsequential,” the denizens of Auburn Hills have finally kinda-sorta admitted publicly that the launch of the Fiat brand in this country is an abject failure and has been so botched that they’re starting over.

Laura Soave, the former head of the Fiat brand for North America has been dismissed, and Timothy Kuniskis has been announced as her replacement.

But will it really matter at this point?

First of all, Soave is clearly the scapegoat in all of this. Though she made many egregious errors during her tenure the fact that she was hamstrung by Sergio Marchionne’s insistence that special Fiat-focused dealers had to be constructed before the launch of the Fiat 500 got serious was the real killer in all of this.

No matter how you cut it, that decision was instrumental in Fiat falling on its face right out of the gate. For all of their “we’re the smartest guys in the room” arrogance and posturing, Marchionne & Co. blew the Fiat rollout to smithereens, totally underestimating the task at hand at every turn. And Soave is taking the bullet for their missteps.

But what can be done now to fix the Fiat mess? Two things:

Fix the advertising. That means I’d start by removing Olivier “I’m a genius, just ask me” Francois from having anything to do with Fiat advertising, immediately. Actually, I would remove this guy from having anything to do with any Fiat or Chrysler advertising, given what I’ve seen of the new Chrysler 300 spot bowing on the Thanksgiving Day NFL broadcasts. That spot is so relentlessly lame and nonsensical that it wallows in a dimension of tediousness that is almost beyond comprehension. (It’s clear that the infamous “Eminem” spot for last year’s Super Bowl went completely to Francois’s head and he’s lost all perspective and understanding. They’ve tried to repackage and remix that spot 50 different ways since and all of the spots have failed miserably. And the upcoming spot for the 300 is a new low.)

As for Fiat, one of Soave’s most obvious missteps was hiring a small-timer to do her advertising and it looked and felt like it. Francois, the starf---er that he is, went the opposite route, signing JLo for reasons unbeknownst to anyone still operating with at least a modicum of cogent thought.

The first JLo spot was a warmed-over cut of a long-form video she did, which was mystifying in its intent, other than it had her driving a Fiat 500 and dancing around it at the end. High concept it was not.

The second attempt had JLo driving around in her old neighborhood stomping grounds in a Fiat 500, pretending to get in touch with her inner Real Girl, which was about as believable as JLo flying coach to get in touch with her fans. As if.

And finally, the lowest of lows was JLo prancing around on stage at the American Music Awards this past Sunday evening with a Fiat 500 as part of the backdrop in the most blatant bit of product placement in television history. It was offensive and incomprehensible, and it predictably drew a loud chorus of post-show outrage from stars and the media alike.

It’s clear that Francois is clearly out of ideas, but when you’re in the Genius business and you and your leader sit around reveling in each other’s brilliance, there is simply no hope of any rational thought creeping through to make things better.

But something has to give, and fast. The raison d’etre for the return of Fiat was never explained to anyone in ConsumerLand in this market. You have to give people a reason to care - other than the 500 is cute.

And that hasn’t happened yet

Get over the whole “exclusive” Fiat dealer bit. Marchionne & Co. blew this and now it’s going to get u-g-l-y before they’ll be able to fix it. U-g-l-y because they’re going to have to make the 500 available for sale at Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealers immediately. U-g-l-y because once they decide to do that they’ll have to compensate the exclusive Fiat dealers who shelled out serious cash to buy into Sergio’s “vision” for the brand. And u-g-l-y because if they don’t get the volume of the 500 up and enhance the presence of the Fiat brand in this market, then they’re setting the table for failure when their new, make-or-break compact car comes out next spring.

And right there is the entire deal for the grand experiment called Fiat-Chrysler. The new Fiat-Chrysler compact based on Alfa Romeo underpinnings will have to be a solid competitor to the Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, et al right out of the gate, because if it isn’t, then it’s back to selling Jeeps and Ram trucks, and even Sergio knows that’s not going to cut it forever.

So, we shall see, won’t we?

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.

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