New Cars 2012: Fiat 500

When Fiat announced that they were returning to the US, lots of Italian car enthusiasts applauded; like most other consumers who had barely heard of the brand,, most car magazines were a tad skeptical. Why? Early in their US career, Fiat gained the sad-but-true acronym "Fix It Again Tomorrow", implying that overall reliability was poor-- and it was. Fiats are said to be like British cars in the respect that when something goes wrong, its usually not a standalone problem. When one major problem showed its ugly head, more than a few minor niggles appeared as well.
In Europe, Fiat is known for producing (up until recently) boring-ish vehicles with mehlicious (or ugly depending on your reactions to vehicles such as the much-criticized Multipla crossover)styling; cars like the Linea, and the Grande Punto are not quite what one would call "enthusiast" vehicles; however, not all is a bad. The Panda is apparently quite the nimble vehicle for its size, and there's even a 4x4 sub-compact crossover variant, too. But Fiat knew to return to the US, they'd need a "Halo" or "cult" car so to speak.
Enter the 500. When the Mini brand launched in the 'states in 2003, it was a smashing success; within a year of the normal hatch, a convertible was launched, and later a more-door Clubman station wagon, and now that lineup has an SUV in it too. Fiat couldn't stand back and let Mini have all the fun in this segment. Ever since 2008, Fiat said they were returning. When Fiat bought a stake in Chrysler, I knew it was official; the 500 and its convertible variant the 500C have been on this side of the pond since last summer. But there's a problem.
When BMW launched its Mini franchise, the cars were strategically placed in urban areas to gather public reaction; its dealers were lumped in with BMW dealers to make shopping easier, and to provide a decent dealer network. Instead, Fiat decided to take on a rather stupid approach. First, they made standalone dealers away from large metropolitan areas. All the dealers I've seen (and that's only three) are in lower-income areas that are pretty sparsely populated. Not a smart move, for starters. Second of all, the advertising for this little car is pretty much null. Aside from the occasional billboard, the 500 isn't marketed at all in the 'states. Third, the dealer grossly overestimated how many people would buy a 500. Instead of shipping the cars little by little, Fiat jumped the gun and shipped 200 days of cars to its dealers. The one dealer I went to had in excess of 100 500s on the lot. And while I was taking pictures, not one actual customer came onto the lot with expressed interest in the vehicle itself. Instead, the only people who popped in were curious as to why I was taking pictures all over the property. Oh, and one more thing. While the 500 supposedly marks Fiat's return, there's no other cars being offered in the US at the time of writing. You'd think that if they wanted to make a return to the 'states, they'd have a full lineup planned. But no.
I wish Fiat the success they need to survive in this market, but damned if they didn't make mistake after crucial mistake. Here's hoping they can learn from this initial disaster of a return, or history could very well repeat itself.