Fiat culled to one car model until next year

The Australian distributor of Fiat cars says the Italian brand is here to stay despite being temporarily culled to one passenger model.

Sales of the Ritmo and Punto small cars have trickled to a halt, with none being sold in June and only seven being sold in the first six months of this year.

The sole Fiat car on sale today is the baby 500 city runabout (pictured) -- which is joined by two vans, the small Scudo and full-size Ducato in local showrooms.

Overall Fiat sales in Australia are down by 34 per cent in the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year -- in a market that is up 16 per cent.

"Fiat is here to stay," says Fiat Australia spokesman Edward Rowe. "We're just waiting on the facelifted models of the Punto and Ritmo small cars to arrive."

The facelifted models, which come with minor visual changes, will also be available with a new twin-clutch automated transmission.

"Those cars are due early next year, so we are waiting for them," he said. "In the meantime it's business as usual with the Fiat 500."

Sales of the smallest Fiat are down by 14 per cent so far this year but Ateco says this is because Australian supply has been restricted by overseas demand.

"We still have supply restrictions out of Europe because of the car's popularity there," he said. "In fact, the Fiat 500 factory is one of the few factories in the world unaffected by the Global Financial Crisis."

He said the high performance Fiat 500 Abarth hot hatch has also been delayed. It was due to arrive late this year but is now expected early next year. "It will now be here in January 2011 at the earliest."

Meanwhile Fiat's commercial vehicles are helping the brand remain stable. Sales of the full size Ducato van are down marginally (0.5 per cent) while the small Scudo has experienced a recent spike in popularity (up 11 per cent), although it still sells in relatively small numbers. For every Scudo sold, Fiat Australia sells four Ducato vans.

Ateco says the Ducato van has enjoyed strong interest since it became available with a six-speed robotised manual transmission at the end of 2008.

Last year saw the highest annual sales volume for Fiat Commercial vehicles since the brand's reintroduction to the Australian market.

Internationally, the Ducato was awarded 'Best Basis for a Motorhome' for the third year running in Europe and New Zealand, and the Ducato passed two million sales overall the same year.

"More than 80 per cent of Ducato sales are to the motorhome market in Australia and so it can be affected by tourism and the economy, but it has remained popular throughout the uncertain economic times," Rowe said.

He said the motorhome market was so crucial to Fiat that the Italian maker now does durability testing of its vehicles with motorhome units attached.

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