In a vehicle market that’s expanded by 16 pct over last year, Fiat Auto South Africa has continued its winning sales streak by turning in an impressive 57.8 pct increase last month over February 2005 with 855 units (passenger and LCV) retailed. Fiat has followed on from the good form it showed last month, which saw 918 units sold, representing a 47 pct increase over the figures for January 2005. The company is thus once again in the top three for automotive manufacturers/distributors that have experienced the most growth this year.

According to Giorgio Gorelli, Managing Director of Fiat Auto SA, these are the first visible results in Fiat’s major turn-around of the last 30 months. “We have invested so much in our products, service, network and brand, and it’s now really gratifying to see that it’s paying off,” Gorelli said. He further attributes a lot of the success to the relative newcomers in the Fiat line-up such as the Panda and the Strada.
 

These two Fiat models have, since their launch, consistently increased their South African market share to the point where they now account for roughly half of Fiat’s sales volumes.

“Even more exciting is the fact that we now have almost immediate access to the freshest product from Europe and around the world. It’s also no secret that we are planning a huge new product roll-out over the next few months, so we are very confident that this positive sales trend will continue,” Gorelli concluded.