Suzuki Moves Ahead without VW and Signs New Diesel Engine Deal with Fiat

Regular readers will no doubt remember the clash between the Volkswagen Group and Suzuki Motors with the Germans refusing to let go of their 19.9 percent equity stake in the Japanese company and Suzuki taking the matter to the international court.

While the issue remains unresolved, Suzuki has already moved on and today, the company announced that it is further expanding its business relationship with the Fiat Group, which also owns Chrysler.

The two parties reached an agreement for the supply of Fiat's 1.3-liter Multijet four-cylinder turbo diesel with 75-horses to Maruti Suzuki, which is the Japanese company's Indian subsidiary.

Fiat India Automobiles Limited (FIAL), a joint venture between Fiat and Tata Motors, produces the diesel engine at a plant near Pune in Maharashtra State.

Under the deal, Fiat will supply up to 100,000 1.3L MultiJet 75hp SDE engines per year, starting from January 2012 and for a maximum period of three years. Fiat noted that these volumes will be in addition to the 1.3L MultiJet SDE engines already licensed by Fiat and manufactured by Suzuki Powertrain India Limited.

The 75HP diesel unit will be used on Suzuki branded vehicles produced in India exclusively for the local market.

 

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Fiat Group Lowers 2012 Sales Estimate by Half a Million Units

A funny t-shirt slogan reads “aim low, achieve your targets, avoid disappointment”. But it would probably be best if you didn’t give it as a Christmas present to Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne.

The reason is that the Italian group has lowered its 2012 sales forecast of 2.7 million units by a substantial amount; the new target for next year is 2.2 million, 500,000 units short of the original estimate presented in the group's 5-year plan.

The good news is that its partner, Chrysler, is expected to hit its 2.4-million sales target. Adding up the numbers brings the Fiat-Chrysler combined sales projection for 2012 to 4.6 million units.

The bad news is that Marchionne has already set a target of 5.9 million sales for 2014. You don’t need a bachelor in economics to figure out that the two companies will, if their projections are correct, still need to increase their annual sales by 1.3 million units. And they have only two years to achieve their goal.

“Marchionne’s 2014 volume target looks truly challenging, unless Fiat’s core markets show a substantial rebound in the coming years, which looks unlikely now”, Mediobanca’s financial analyst Massimo Vecchio, told Autonews.

In fact, Fiat’s CEO had himself predicted in August that 2012 is going to be a bad year for the European automotive market. His prediction is confirmed by leading analysts who expect next year’s European car sales to decrease between 2 and 6.5 percent compared to 2011, due to the financial crisis that is storming the Eurozone.

So why has Marchionne set such a high target? Richard Hilgert, an automotive analyst in Chicago’s Morningstar, offers a possible explanation.

"Despite the probable downturn in Western European 2012 new vehicle demand, especially in Italy, I think the company is expecting to benefit from the market onslaught it plans to unleash over the next three years with 35 new or significantly redesigned models, the bulk of which should come in 2013”, he said.

At least Marchionne won’t have to worry about its workers’ union causing any trouble, since theyrecently agreed on a new contract that ended their conflict. Just bear in mind that it expires at the end of 2012…

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Marchionne Gives Priority In North America Through Europe To Future Plans, Alfa Romeo

Fiat-Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, CEO, announced that he will appoint a head of the Alfa Romeo brand exclusively for the North American market. This is because the Italian manufacturer returning to America after an absence of 17 years, will be his first priority, relegating Europe where the Alfa sales were disappointing, in second place.

"We will target the U.S. market first and work our way back to Europe," Marchionne said in an interview with Autonews Europe. "We conducted market tests whether the U.S. Alfa and, despite our long absence from the market, remains one of the best brands in the world. I think we should go back and take it."

This is in contrast to the common industry practice to please the most demanding European customers in the first place, with many car manufacturers go so far as the construction of facilities design and optimization of the characteristics of their models based preferences of customers in Europe.

Marchionne admits that Alfa Romeo is the biggest problem to be solved, after seven years as head of Fiat Group, as the Italian brand vehicles, such as the Brera, Spider, GT and 159 "does not reflect the Sports of the brand"

Initial estimates have proved to be unrealistic: in 2006, Marchionne said that twice Alfa Romeo sales to 300,000 units in 2010. He missed the target by a mile ... some of them: last year the company sold 115,000 cars one.

This has forced Alfa Romeo CEO Harald Wester reduce the annual target for 2011 to 155,000 units, and 2014, when the manufacturer has completed its new level and begin to roll out new models, to 400,000 units.

On the other hand, dealers US Fiat that has so far only 500 urban premium in their inventory will be more than happy to hear they will get the Alfa Romeo, too. The head of Chrysler Group's development network, Peter Grady, noted that the group plans to increase its dealer network US Fiat 150 by year-end of the 130 originally planned.

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Chrysler Alliance To Build A New Small SUV, The Jeep In Its Mirafiori Factory In Italy

We have more news from the Fiat Group and Chrysler LLC, the field. After the announcement of the new Alfa Romeo 1.8 liter turbo engine, the group said it had completed plans to build a new small SUV, the Jeep model for its Mirafiori factory in Turin, Italy.

The company said that the development of infrastructure of Mirafiori production began in 2012, and the production of a new model Jeep child is expected to start the second half of 2013, alongside an updated version of the Alfa Romeo MiTo supermini.

, So that Fiat and Chrysler have declined to give details, Coop cars recently in terms of production of Jeep 2012-2014, pointing to a new model of small Jeep that will sit under a common substitute for the Compass and Patriot . The new Jeep is an SUV segment B / Crossover similar in size to Nissan Juke.

"This is an important step in our plans to re-industrialize the backbone of the Italian manufacturing view of current market trends and increased distribution reach offered by the Chrysler Group," said Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Group and Chrysler .

"This innovative architecture allows us to provide the most current platforms for the development of our brands, and more importantly, allow us to access the full range of engines of both Fiat and Chrysler," said Marchionne.

 

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IAA 2011: Fiat Ready to Conquer the City Car Segment with All-New Panda

The most important debut from a sales point of view for the Fiat Group at the Frankfurt Motor Show is the brand-new, third generation Fiat Pandacity car. With more than 6.5 million sales spread over two generations and 31 years, the Panda is one of Fiat's most successful models.

The 2012 Panda has been completely renewed and comes with a larger body, fresh looks, improved versatility and a new range of engines.

Available only as a five-door model, the new Panda has grown in length from 3,538mm to 3,650mm, in width from 1,578mm to 1,640mm, and in height from 1,450mm to 1,550mm.

And while the outgoing Panda was more or less for four passengers, Fiat claims that its successor can "comfortably accommodate up to five people" adding that is equipped with one of the "roomiest luggage compartments in its segment".

The Italian city car will be available with a choice of six different fuel-efficient engines including a pair of TwinAir 0.9-liter two-cylinder gasoline units in naturally aspirated and turbocharged variants producing 65HP and 85HP respectively, a 1.2-liter four-cylinder gasoline with 69HP, and a 1.3-liter Multijet diesel with auto stop-start technology.

Furthermore, Fiat will also offer a petrol/methane version of the 0.9 liter turbocharged unit and a petrol/LPG version of the 1.2-liter unit.

All engines are linked to a five-speed manual gearbox, with a semiautomatic “Dualogic” to be offered on the options list.

Production of the new Panda will begin before the end of the year with European sales to start immediately after.

 

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