FIAT Dealership in Austin

Last Saturday, Dennis, Ric, Walter and I crashed a local Austin FIAT Club gathering with our X's. I had heard about the event and thought "let's go show these FIAT 500 guys what real FIATs look like! Well the event was just OK - maybe 6 or 7 500's and a cool Alfa 4C showed up.

I came away thinking that the group was pretty dysfunctional and no one appeared to be in charge. Also, they met in the parking lot of a pretty crappy burger joint in Austin - not very glamorous at all.

So....I got to thinking that the local Austin FIAT dealership might benefit from our holding our get togethers there. I called them and suggested it and was met with great enthusiasm! They are ALL over it now and want to tie it to the 5th Anniversary Celebration. They are coming up with a budget and were talking about food, prizes, T-Shirts, a contest, etc.!

The point is.......

If this goes well, maybe some of you in other geographies might want to hook up with YOUR local FIAT dealers and offer them some X1/9 love as well.

Just a thought.

Ed

I would think with the new 124 Spider coming out soon, local dealers would want to hook up with FLU/FCA chapters in their areas to try to put on events that feature the old and the new cars.


There was some of this in the Phila area when the FIAT studios first opened up, but with the overall disappointment that FIAT has been in its return, it's not surprising that dealers have lost their enthusiasm for anything that does not directly result in a sale.

I proposed a car show at a local Fiat dealer and...



"A" car showed up.

Rooster said:

"A" car showed up.

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You mean THE CAR showed up!

Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:

I would think with the new 124 Spider coming out soon, local dealers would want to hook up with FLU/FCA chapters in their areas to try to put on events that feature the old and the new cars.


There was some of this in the Phila area when the FIAT studios first opened up, but with the overall disappointment that FIAT has been in its return, it's not surprising that dealers have lost their enthusiasm for anything that does not directly result in a sale.

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Fiat America has done events at a fiat dealership in Newark CA. I went to one event a while back and turn out was great but FA club has a good following and a lot of new fiat members.

Old and new

DCfiats, one of the bigger Fiat clubs, embraced the new 500s when they came out (we were not sure we wanted to at the start) and it has been a healthy relationship. Didn't hurt that a lot of the folks who bought 500s were already owners of classic Fiats and were active members in the club. I'm not aware of any interaction with local Fiat dealers but we don't need them as our club is big enough to stand on it's own.....and according to some sources of mine no one with a 500 is particularly enamored with any of the local dealers.

It's funny, I would think any Fiat dealership would be more than happy to interact with any Fiat club for events even if just a parking lot thing.

carl

FA also has over 100 members, great organizational...

skills, great people, great cars and 2 or 3 events a month.

Almost makes pulling up stakes and moving north worth it just to be an active member!

... and people wonder why businesses fail. nt

n

Over the holidays I was visiting family in the Chicago far-western suburb of Naperville and stopped by a FIAT/Alfa/Maserati dealership, mainly to check out a sharp yellow 4C Spider in the showroom. They also had a new red Abarth that caught my eye.

I tried to have a "enthusiast"-like conversation about the cars with the sales rep but he acted aloof and quite arrogant. He said he never heard of an X1/9 and "didn't really care"; his only interest was in what they're currently selling. A guy like that might as well be selling stoves and refrigerators. I know he never would have sold ME a car.

Our local Fiat Alfa Maserati dealership has been quite good. They sponsor events (our driving events, an Italian car show, etc), host breakfast one Saturday a month and provide our club's literature (Ricambi, event schedule and so on) to their customers.

I need to get over there to talk with them about an event around the new Spider.

Generally I have nothing but good to say about our local dealer.

We have several Fiat dealerships in the area.

Manchester, Portland and Peabody (north of Boston).

I bought my Abarth from the Portland store as they had one dealer sample available when I begged for the car. They were interested in the older stuff, but I think mostly because they were trying to feel out the market. It's been a couple of years since I've stepped foot in the place.

The manchester store seemed like a hipster hang out. All millennial sales staff except for the GM and he vaguely remembered Fiat being in the states before.

The Peabody store was a hoot and hind sight I should have bought the Abarth from them. Several of the sales guys were old Italians and they would reminisce about the old cars. Several had spiders and/or were fixing up an old Tony. But, again its been a couple of years since I stepped foot in that place.

My take, FCA is trying to make money, they are banking on the older crowd to come back and at the same time trying to appeal to the younger crowd. Some dealerships are trying to distance themselves from the old cars and shake the "Fix It Again Tony" moniker. Some, not a lot, try to embrace the old cars, but in the end its about sales.

I would bet Walters Fiat in Riverside would enjoy and host some kind of classic Fiat event. Especially down the road, when the 124 Spider will be introduced.

Dan Sarandrea (Phila) said:

There was some of this in the Phila area when the FIAT studios first opened up, but with the overall disappointment that FIAT has been in its return, it's not surprising that dealers have lost their enthusiasm for anything that does not directly result in a sale.

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I don't know about that... I own a 2012 Abarth and one of my sons owns a 2014 and we've been very pleased, with both the cars and dealer support.