Fiat's 500 should be titled the most successful car launch of the year for 2007. After being on sale for only 3 weeks, the cute little bug has blew off Fiat's sales projections. Fiat planned to build 58,000 units of the 500 for this year with annual build capacities planned for 120,000. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne prompted a boost to the annual build capacity to 140,000 after the mind-blowing success.
Being in showrooms for a mere 3 weeks, the 500's done for the whole year. "As of yesterday, we had received 57,000 dealer orders for the 500, of which 51,000 are from Italy and 6,000 are from France,” stated Marchionne.
Fiat has already initiated in expanding its Tychy plant in Poland to accommodate the extra units rolling off production. Ford is prepping for launch of their next Ka supermini, due to go on sale next fall. The Ka is built alongside the 500 and the Fiat Panda in Poland. By next year, the Tychy plant will be capable of assembling 140,000 Fiat 500s, 240,000 Fiat Pandas and 120,000 Ford Kas. All we can do is hope that Marchionne sees the dear enthusiasm the 500 has garnered in North America. Everyone can dream, can't they?
[Source: Motor Authority]
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Da Bomb: Fiat 500 sells out in 3 weeks, extra production demanded
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