Should the US get the Fiat Strada?

Should the US get the Fiat Strada?

  • YES! Bring on the tiny pickups!

    Votes: 8 47.1%
  • No, I'll keep my F-150

    Votes: 8 47.1%
  • What's a Fiat?

    Votes: 1 5.9%

  • Total voters
    17
I don't think there is a point in comparing it to the F150, just look at the sizes. The largest Strada is 4457x1706mm, the smallest F150 is 5415x2012mm - that's a 43% larger footprint, hardly in the same class of car. Using the same metric, it's like comparing the outgoing-model A-Class to a LWB S-Class.
 
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Those are some very Gandini-like wheelarches...

Good Sir, you deserve massive neg-rep for daring to compare this Fiat abomination to the glorious Countach!

(I won't do it though :p )
 
I don't think there is a point in comparing it to the F150, just look at the sizes. The largest Strada is 4457x1706mm, the smallest F150 is 5415x2012mm - that's a 43% larger footprint, hardly in the same class of car. Using the same metric, it's like comparing the outgoing-model A-Class to a LWB S-Class.

The problem is that unless Fiat can magically get the price down, it's going to be competing against the lower-end models of the F-150 (and the Silverado... and the Ram...) on price. And that's a losing scenario, especially when those are on sale at $9999 at the end of a model year.

To put it another way, it's like Dacia bringing out a new Golf competitor for Germany at about the same price point as a Passat or stripped A6. Some few people might buy it, but it's just not going to end well.
 
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Sell it as the new Dodge Rampage?
 
Sell it as the new Dodge Rampage?

Because the last one did so well? (Sold only for three years, third year facelift made it look better but people still didn't buy it, in its first/best year sales were below 20K, even a Shelby version couldn't move the metal.)

The 84 (last year) facelift:
800px-1984_Dodge_Rampage.jpg


Despite the money involved in sticking the regular Charger front end on it, they still only got 11K takers. The car was cancelled shortly after that.
 
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See the VW Rabbit Sportruck/Caddy above - cheap poverty-spec runabout, check. Didn't sell for crap here, check.

I don't know, it's been 30 years since the BRAT and Caddy and 15(?) years since the Baja. Maybe it's time to try again?

But having the Strada compete against stripper versions of the Detroit pickups... no, I guess it'd be stillborn.
 
I don't know, it's been 30 years since the BRAT and Caddy and 15(?) years since the Baja. Maybe it's time to try again?

But having the Strada compete against stripper versions of the Detroit pickups... no, I guess it'd be stillborn.
There's an interest in "Crossovers" - things that can't figure out if they're cars or SUVs - here, especially inside Houston (where parking and maneuvering makes small good, but people still want tall/like an SUV because dumb). Market it as a cool new crossover that has a bed because OMG BED FUNCTIONAL!. It would need rear doors, though. If they can put rear doors on it, and market it the right way, people here would love it. It's different, so it would stand out. That's a real draw. It has that "I'm tough" style. It'd just have to have rear doors.

I'm thinking closer to a smaller, crossover variety of an Explorer Sport Trac than a newer Brat/Rabbit.

Remember, in that way, it's being marketed to people who, if they bought by what they needed, would be buying a smaller sedan. It's not trying to be a pickup, at that point. What it's trying to be is a stand-in for a small sedan that says, "I have enough money to buy something cool, that I actually want, instead of the silly little sedan that suits my needs." It'd live or die on its marketing.
 
Actually, when thinking of it... the five-seater in the first post is like a C-segment station wagon with no rear doors and a really impractical substitute for a trunk. I'm also 99% sure it also doesn't have a "hatch" and folding rear seats like an Avalanche has when you need to transport things that don't fit in the tiny bed.

I guess some people would like it. *shrugs*
 
I guess some people would like it. *shrugs*
Someone who would be buying one of these, but are shopping these because, "Those hamster commercials are, like, so cool!", would be interested in it if it had the right marketing. :)

Yes, I know, the pricing of those are a bit off, but the point is it shouldn't be treated as though it would be as practical as a pickup or even a wagon. It should be treated as no more practical than a small car, just cooler, and priced based on "small car with some coolness" rather than "competing with pickups") - Priced a touch under the smaller crossovers should do it. It doesn't need to compete with the $9999 on sale F150 - that wouldn't even be on my target buyer's radar. It's too un-cool and too big.
 
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Great, a vehicle that shares its name with a Fellini movie. And like most Fellini movies, it doesn't make sense.

Rick, why are you so adamant about reviving the Fiat badge in the US? "The 500 is magnificent! Let's bring over the Punto! Let's bring over the Panda! Let's bring over the Strada!" Why? Most Americans still have the "Fix It Again, Tony" meme stuck in their heads about these things. It's too tough a sell. The 500 would have come out here as a Dodge if Sergio's ego hadn't got in the way, and it might have actually sold better than it did. Give it up, Rick. Fiat's made their bed and targeted fashion victims who think a Beetle is too declasse for them. Let them live or die with that image.
 
Someone who would be buying one of these, but are shopping these because, "Those hamster commercials are, like, so cool!", would be interested in it if it had the right marketing. :)

Yes, I know, the pricing of those are a bit off, but the point is it shouldn't be treated as though it would be as practical as a pickup or even a wagon. It should be treated as no more practical than a small car, just cooler, and priced based on "small car with some coolness" rather than "competing with pickups") - Priced a touch under the smaller crossovers should do it. It doesn't need to compete with the $9999 on sale F150 - that wouldn't even be on my target buyer's radar. It's too un-cool and too big.

Ah, interesting point!

Rick, how much money are you & FIAT going to sell it for?

Is it going to have an American badge?
(i.e. Not FIAT, Chrysler something-or-other like Dodge.)

Does it have better "gas-milage" than its competitors?

:smile:
 
Re: Should the US get the Fiat Strada?

^ you guys are hilarious :lol:
 
^ you guys are hilarious :lol:

Rick, just so you know, if they bring that silly little toy truck over and slap a Dodge, or even worse a Ram badge on it I will hold you personally responsible.....
 
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Oh good a Baja with Italian reliability.
 
It's ugly. Too much plastic cladding. Awkward wheel arches. It looks like it would be beloved by Jalopnik for the sheer fact that it'd be a total misfit here. And then, well, it'd be a misfit and just wouldn't sell.

People also expect trucks to do a lot more, and I think they might be disappointed with the limitations of a small runabout. Fiat's "Fix It Again, Tony" reputation precedes them, too, so this wouldn't be the right car to bring to undo that.
 
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