Fiat’s return the U.S. has been successful with the launch of the small 500 and 500 Cabrio. Fiat has delivered 7,982 cars in the U.S. since March and July sales totaled 3,038 units. The automaker expects to eventually sell more than 50,000 vehicles annually in the U.S. after all of its 130 initial dealerships are open.
Fiat has something else to be happy about besides the sales numbers, it looks like early 500 buyers are choosing the pricier packages and customizable accessories for their vehicles. The Sport version, which costs about $2,000 more than the $15,500 base 500 Pop accounted for about half of the 500’s sales in the first five months of Fiat’s return. The $19,500 Lounge version made up 20 percent of the sales.
According to the brand’s chief, Laura Soave, “A lot of what we’re seeing is customers really want to build their car.” Buyers are also willing to wait six to eight weeks to get the 500 they want.
Of course this all means more profits for Fiat, which currently has 94 dealerships and aims to have all 130 open by the end of the year.
According to Fiat there are more than 500,000 variations of colors and options for the 500.
Fiat has also introduced the “500 by Gucci” versions of the 500 in Europe, but it’s not known if those editions will come to the U.S. The high-performance Fiat 500 Abarth is also expected to debut in November.
