Fiat Booms to Be Best Selling Stellantis Brand in H1 2023

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charge to be the best-selling Stellantis brand so far in 2023. Photo: Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Predictions of Fiat’s demise once it was scooped up in the Stellantis Group have so far fallen wide of the mark, with the Italian brand dominating the Group’s other volume brands in the first half of the year.

The Latin linchpin of the global automotive group sold 650,000 cars globally in the first half of this year, including 271,800 in Europe, to head its more fancied internal foes like Peugeot, Citroen and Opel/Vauxhall.

And heading up all of this was the Italian cult car, the Panda. The tiny five-door hatch is now pushing 12 years old, claimed 12.8% of Europe’s city car market to lead the charge as Fiat’s best seller.

Only 143.9 inches long, 64.7 inches wide and 63.2 inches high, the Panda is beloved for its ability to negotiate Italy’s narrow streets while still carrying four people with great economy.

from Fiat as it transitions to EVs. Photo: Tullio M. Puglia/WireImage.

WireImage

While Fiat’s rebranding into the “lovebrand” is slightly comical in its mangling of English, the results are being put down so far, with the brand claiming 12.8% of its home market, but 22% of the Brazilian market as well.

Its New 500 is the best selling battery-electric vehicle in Italy, and sits in the top five across Europe, and in the power markets of Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

“Over the last two years, we had a successful run within Stellantis, making FIAT more profitable and more global than ever,” Fiat CEO Olivier Francois said.

“This year, FIAT has once again confirmed its global success, contributing substantially to the Group’s results.

|Moreover, we are leading the sustainable urban mobility conversion thanks to our New 500 – a 100% electric global icon – which is the number one electric city car in Europe. And we will continue to lead the path to electrification with the launch of the Fiat Topolino and the New Fiat 600e, which are the first new models based on Stellantis platform.

“Right thanks to the synergies and opportunities within the Group, in the next 3 years our product plan will get FIAT back to where it belongs: a leader, a benchmark, a lovebrand.”

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I have been testing cars and writing about the car business for more than 25 years. My career began in daily newspapers and developed into editorship of two automotive magazines. I’ve been based in Italy as a freelancer for more than a decade, covering the European car business, with a focus on product testing and product development for readers around the world. I judge the good and bad in cars how they perform their intended functions at their price points for their target customers against all of their competitors. I hold no short or long positions in the car industry, primarily because it could only compromise the integrity of my work, so my written positions are a condensation of available data mixed with about four full product cycles worth of experience.