July 11: Fiat quality?

Time heals all wounds. Now, there is a famous old saying and in many cases it's correct, although I think fifty years from now, Donald Trump will still be viewed as a presidential joke. In the car business, you could apply this saying to Hyundai, who started out in North America breaking the hearts of all those Pony owners. People who loved their inexpensive little rides, only to watch them fall apart before their eyes. Oh, the shame! Flash forward to the present day and Hyundai is a company known for very good quality and strong sales. Time heals all wounds. And now their sister company, Kia has topped a very influential list, the JD Power Initial Quality survey.

This is a survey covering all the vehicles sold in North America by brand and Kia rose above all the others to stand on the pedestal of production line goodness.

So back to that old saying, time heals all wounds............and remember one of the reasons why Fiat packed up the last car they were selling in North America and went back to Italy.........

Yes, I can still see it now, standing on our shores waving good-bye before leaving us for years and years, until that cute as a bug (not a Beetle), little Fiat 500 stumbled into our midst.........

........and everyone forgot about all those Fiat quality issues from those many years ago, running to their closest dealer with money in hand. Apparently short term memory is not just something afflecting the elderly.

Time heals all wounds. You got that right.

So why would I bring that up today? Think about it, if you have the top of the heap, you must also have the bottom. In terms of that JD Power survey, what do you think lies at the very bottom? If you said, Fiat, your morning coffee is on me. Yep, good old Fiat it seems, didn't learn an enduring truth, looks sell, but poor quality kills those sales.

One caveat here, I'm guessing that the new 124 sportscar will have better quality than the other Fiats, since afterall it is in reality a Mazda, but if it's being made in Italy. Well, your guess is as good as mine.

Think of another Fiat company product, the Alfa Romeo and remember the last ones sold over here.......

Gone and probably forgotten, as they were, like their Fiat brethren, just not as good as they should have been. Time heals all wounds? I guess so, since the press has welcomed the new Giulia with open arms and great reviews........

I always thought (and have written about it in this blog) that the Alfa brand's new launch in North America was much ado about nothing. I just didn't think that there were thousands upon thousands of folks waiting on the docks for this car to arrive. Early sales have bore this out in spades. Now something else has reared its very ugly head......QUALITY.

During a recent comparison test with a Bimmer and a Mercedes, the Giulia stopped dead on the track and wouldn't restart. Over the years, I've read thousands of these comparisons and never have I ever read about this sort of thing happening. Alfa quality? Maybe another oxymoron and maybe another of those things that Fiat should have ironed out before getting all excited about starting up again on our shores.

Time heals all wounds, but will it do it twice?

Until next time......