From Rome #3: “FIAT Arrives – the Second Time Around…”

In the previous post, PAN had translated the FIAT post I’d submitted into Italian for its clients and prospects. Here is the original…more or less.

One classy Italian that’s coming back to America is the new Fiat 500. The tiny comeback is premiering as part of Fiat’s new alliance with Chrysler Corporation.

The last time Fiat sold cars in the US under its own brand name, Ronald Reagan was President, Terms of Endearment won the Oscar for the Best Picture and Michael Jackson took home a Grammy for “Beat It.” That was 1984.

(Twenty years earlier in ‘64, when I was…younger…a friend and I drove his microscopic Fiat 500 to Seattle, Washington, from Atlanta, Georgia. It was an excruciating round trip for someone my size: 4400 miles or 7000 kilometers. I look forward to discovering if the new 500 is more appealing.)

So in just a few weeks, the first Fiat 500s will roll into the carmaker’s new US showrooms. There’s already one in Austin, TX. The new car is supposed to be priced at US$15,500 for the basic model. For those who enjoy life’s little luxuries, there’s a model with all the premium bits for US$25,500.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, also the CEO of Chrysler, believes that the time is just right to relaunch the Fiat marque. He says in Ad Age magazine, “We want Fiat to be a global brand, and the 500 is the perfect vehicle with which to re-open the conversation with Americans.”

Fiat is going to have to prove that its new car is not just fun to drive – the brand’s got to overcome American resistance to small cars. (BMW’s Mini Cooper brand has lots of cool but not a large market share.) There’s also the reliability challenge – quality became a major problem with the old Fiat models back in the early 1980s.

The ad industry’s waiting to see what the new US ad agency for Fiat, Impatto, is going to do. Run by Italian-American Michael D’Antonio, it’s a boutique shop that’s been selected to handle creative duties and event strategy for the new car launch. The Michigan-based agency has created the car’s slogan for America, “Life is best when driven.” (See above.)

According to MSNBC, Impatto and Fiat will use both traditional marketing channels and “alternative methods” for the introduction, including event-based “graffiti walls” being set up in key US markets; and social media. The alternatives sound like the same kinds of tactics used by BMW Mini and its first ad agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

PS: Want to see the new FIAT in southeast Texas? Initially, Northside FIAT of Houston will get the first cars. The dealership will start off sharing space with Spring Chrysler Jeep Dodge at 21027 Interstate 45 North, exit 70A.

From Rome #2: “La piccola Fiat arriva in America…”

Un classico italiano che ritorna in America: la nuova FIAT 500. La piccola di casa FIAT è la “prima assoluta” della nuova alleanza con Chrysler Corporation.

L’ultima volta che un auto è stata venduta in USA con il marchio FIAT il presidente era Ronald Reagan, “Voglia di tenerezza” vinceva l’Oscar per il miglior film e Michael Jackson portava a casa un Grammy per “Beat It.” Era il 1984.

Vent’anni prima (1964), quando io ero ancora più giovane, un mio amico ed io guidammo una microscopica Fiat 500 da Atlanta a Seattle. Fu un viaggio andata e ritorno straziante per uno della mia taglia: 4400 miglia, circa 7000 km. Non vedo l’ora di scoprire se la nuova 500 è più attraente.

Così, fra poche settimane la prima FIAT 500 entrerà nei nuovi showroom USA della casa italiana. C’e n’è già uno ad Austin, Texas. Il modello base sarà venduto a 15.500 dollari (11.500 €), ma per chi ama i piccoli lussi, il modello superaccessoriato sale a 25.500 dollari (quasi 19.000 euro).

Sergio Marchionne crede che sia il momento giusto di rilanciare il marchio FIAT in USA e ha affermato sulla testata AD Age: “Vogliamo che FIAT sia marca globale e la 500 è il modello giusto per riaprire il dialogo con gli americani”.

Ma FIAT dovrà dimostrare che la nuova 500 non è solo divertente da guidare, - FIAT deve superare le resistenze degli americani verso le auto piccole (la Mini Cooper è considerata molto cool, ma ha una piccola quota di mercato). C’è soprattutto la sfida dell’affidabilità, visto che la qualità era il problema maggiore dei vecchi modelli FIAT degli anni ‘80.

Il mercato della pubblicità è curioso di vedere cosa farà la nuova agenzia USA di FIAT, Impatto, una boutique creativa guidata da un italo - americano, Michael D’Antonio, che è stata selezionata per gestire creatività ed eventi per il lancio della nuova auto. L’agenzia del Michigan ha già creato lo slogan per l’America : “Life is best when driven.”

Sembra che FIAT utilizzerà sia i canali di marketing tradizionale che “metodi alternativi” per il lancio, compresi eventi basati su “muri di graffiti” che verranno organizzati nei mercati chiave e nei social media. Una tattica che sembra simile a quella già usata da BMW.

THIS PHOTO: New Fiat 500 and old model from Fiatpic.com – all rights reserved.

For My Birthday, the 2010 Panamera Turbo. Whattaya Say?

Today’s a pretty special birthday for me, some of you might know. I’d like something special to go with it. (That’s what I said to Barbara, anyway.)

I could do a big riff – or a piercing whine – about how I deserve this. I could write endlessly about how cool this prospective birthday present is. After all, the car has just arrived in dealers’ showrooms after being introduced late last year: The Panamera Turbo by Porsche. I have even picked out my color, what the company’s calling mahogany metallic. Very utterly spectacular.

My new birthday-car-gift is a little pricey: $132,345 at the dealership over on I-10. But what are friends for? (That’s what I asked myself when I came up with the nifty solution.) Here’s the deal.

It just needs 132 of my closest colleagues, friends and relatives – that’s you!

Each of you chip in $1,000. Just send me a check or use PayPal – I’m setting up an account now. I’ll cover the taxes, title, license and so forth. Before you know it, I gonna be cruising down to Galveston. Or west to El Paso at 180+ mph. Or, hey, hey, I’ll drive it around to you guys in Dallas and New Prague, North Bergen and Chicago, let you take an up-close-and-personal at your lovely gift to…me!

Discuss it among yourselves, I’ll just sing along a bit here.

Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday, dear me.
Happy birthday to me.

Okay – you deliver the buckos and I’ll buy the car. Why? Because it’ll be my precious. Preciousss. Or here is another approach: IwannitIwannitIwannit. After all I’m a real adult now.

“Where is it?” Chevy Advertises Volt but It’s (Still) Not Ready for Prime Time.

It’s been coming for at least two years. It was “formally” announced in a Chevrolet commercial aired during the 2008 Olympics. It became the butt of jokes during the Detroit meltdown – and so did General Motors.

It’s the Chevy Volt. Maybe it’ll get 230 miles-per-gallon-equivalent. Maybe it’ll never see the light of day, although the pre-production test cars have been completed. Maybe I’m being unfair. But you know, a car isn’t a software package – people who want to buy won’t wait on Volt vaporware (remember that term?). American consumers will buy Toyota hybrids and Hondas.

Commenting on Autoblog, “Owlafaye” noted:

The Volt is being designed according to General Motors’ old way of doing business. By the time it gets to market it will be an obvious anachronism. The advanced automotive technology from a myriad of other manufacturers, and due to debut at the time of (and before) the Volt, will bury this foolishness and relegate it to Edsel status.

I normally defend good marketing but it seems like Chevrolet has confused teasing the public with unfulfilled promises, again. Are you a believer? Too bad.