2010 Beijing: Is Fiat missing the boat in China?

[svgallery name="09_Fiat_500"] By John LeBlanc One Western automaker that was noticeably absent from this year’s Beijing auto show was Chrysler’s new caretakers over at Fiat. This is the third time Fiat has skipped a major Chinese auto show, after taking a pass from the Shanghai show last April and the Guangzhou show in November. And while all the big Western players unveiled new models or announced new production or joint ventures expansion deals at this year's Beijing show, Fiat keeps missing the boat on the largest new car market in the world. Of the almost 14 million new vehicles made in China last year, Fiat manufactured zero, zilch, none. The Italian automaker hasn’t made a car in China since it stopped production there nearly two years ago, after it withdrew from its joint venture with local Nanjing Automotive following  years of sluggish sales. Funnily enough, observers there cited many of Fiat’s China-market problems resemble those that have plagued troubled Chrysler: a slow response to customer need and lack of competitive product. In the eight-year relationship with Nanjing, it only offered three aging models, changed presidents four times and replaced its sales and marketing chief seven times. Just to be clear: Fiat still sells cars in China. It exports the Linea, Grande Punto and Bravo. But the numbers are downright microscopic. In 2009, sales were down 62.5 per cent, to just 454 units. Compare that to General Motors and its joint ventures. They sold a record over-1.8 million vehicles in China in 2009. Volkswagen, over-1.4 million. On the surface Fiat hasn’t given up on China. Although construction of a new plant started in November, there’s been no work since. And Fiat is still negotiating range of issues including new model introductions and the internal management. If the Italian automaker can’t get its act together in China—a market that can balance out weaker sales in Europe and the U.S.—how can Fiat survive as a truly global automaker?

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