Chances are you know of the Fiat 500, you know that Sergio Marchionne thought he'd sell three to every American or something, and that you think the diminutive Italian automobile has been a sales flop. You're wrong.
The sales goal may have been 50,000 units annually and the actual sales may have been on 17,945 in March-December of 2011, but if one looks a little more closely it can be seen that those aren't bad numbers. Marchionne has even said that the 50,000 projection was "nonsense". "We thought that we were going to show up and just because of the fact that people like gelato and pasta, people will buy it."
Currently, the 500 is only 4% of the subcompact market. However, it is close behind the Mini at 25.7% of the two door subcompact market. The four door variant (pictured above) that is in Fiat's future might just do wonders for the brand.
[via Polk]
