How are new spider sales doing?

[friedman]

Asking just out of curiosity, I don't see many and wonder how they are selling. But for that matter I don't see that many new Miatas either. It's funny that you see tons of older Miatas on the road, even in winter but then they have been for sale for 30 years.

[davedecker4]

I saw a few right at first. Both Miatas and Fiats. Not thick on the ground but occasional. Then not so many. Lately started to see more of a trickle of new 124 but not so many new Miatas. This tracks with reviews I happened across that at first knocked the visuals of new 124 and turbo lag but ultimately say looks more refined and less of a chick car than Miata, while the 124 suspension tuning is much more predictable. Coupled with Abarth tune and exhaust shows it the winner. Like the original, a bit of a small market halo car. And then there's this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohY7Sn4qmlY&t=1706s

[bartigue]

The two or three FIAT dealerships I see are advertising big inventories and price reductions. I don't think FIAT knows how to market cars.

[andy]

The Fiat 500 Owners site has a monthly post on sales numbers for various models.

The link below shows 160 units sold for the 124 model, I don't know if that includes the Abarth.

https://www.fiat500owners.com/forum/8-f ... mbers.html

[rridge]

Carl,
The larger question is how Fiat sales overall are doing in the U.S. In 2018 U.S. Fiat dealers sold 15,521 cars of which 3,515 were Spiders. That puts the brand in third place behind Alfa and Maserati but ahead of Ferrari in total 2018 U.S. sales units. So the question is how much longer Fiat as a brand can stand alone in the U.S. Patience. Your time will come.

Fiat
124 Spider - units
2018 3.515
2017 4.478
2016 2.475


Mazda
MX-5 Miata - units
2018 8.971
2017 11.294
2016 9.465


Fiat
All Models
units and U.S. market share

2018 15.521 0,09%
2017 26.492 0,15%
2016 33.777 0,19%

[friedman]

When Fiat moves fewer cars than Ferrari, that tells us there are more rich people than we thought or Fiat is in big big trouble.

[bartigue]

Given FCA's strategy with Jeep all they need to do is put a "Jeep" logo on everything and people will buy them. That's pretty much what a Jeep Renegade is, a FIAT 500X with some plastic and tail lamps applied to it.

[rridge]

When you buy a new car that shortly afterwards becomes an orphan, you take a real financial hit. You plan to drive the car into the ground,
but accidents happen and so do changes in life circumstances. Right now I would suspect that the few remaining Fiat dealerships are having to move 124 Spiders by offering significant price discounts relative to their MX5 equivalent.

Circa 1967, Road Test magazine did an economy car comparison of 12 import models then available in the U.S. Included were both the Fiat 124 sedan and the Fiat 600. At the time the VW Beetle was the best seller with the Renault R10 a distant second and both Nissan and Toyota just beginning to test the U.S. market with obsolete models. The cheapest car in the test by far was the Fiat 600, which had a list price of about $1200. The Beetle was selling for $1800. Most of the others were in the $1600-1700 range. The magazine calculated operating costs and depreciation for each model. They found that despite its outstanding fuel economy the 600 was the most expensive to own for the first three years and the Beetle was the cheapest. Depreciation is a killer on slow selling new cars.

[friedman]

There is no doubt in my mind that you are taking a really big chance in buying a new 124 spider. If Fiat dealers close shop, you will not be able to pull into the service bay of a Mazda dealership to get work done on that spider....and neither will your local friendly Jeep dealer want to see that car.

[bartigue]

So you're saying the past is repeating itself?