Fiat Auto have entered 2006 on a real roll, with the new Grande Punto have become Europe's currently best selling car in January and an exciting model range hitting a very receptive market. Thus Fiat CEO Luca De Meo was in upbeat mood as he introduced the brand in Geneva yesterday.

Reminding everyone he had predicted a reversal in Fiat's flagging fortunes at the same show a year ago, Luca De Meo kicked off the press conference by emphasising the revival was really happing, stating statistics: that Fiat's sales in Germany are up by more than 70 pct this year and up by 40 pct in Spain, while in their home market they are solidly well above a 20 pct market share every month, in January it came in at 23.5 pct, which was the Fiat brand's best domestic performance for almost four years. He also revealed that February's figure would continue the same trend.

"The Grande Punto is the brand model that had the highest sales in its segment in Europe with around 38,000 registrations (in January)," he said. "This is an achievement for us, we are very proud of it because this means we have re-entered the bigger league in Europe. And just to celebrate this record we will be entering the racing arena with the Punto, with three new young drivers: Andreucci, Navarra and Basso." No detail, but the Super2000 rally programme is progressing. Emphasising this exciting new programme the rally car concept first seen in Frankfurt last September is on the stand.

"A few words on our presence at the Geneva Motor Show," continued De Meo. "First of all it is a new stand you see behind me which shows our comeback in the four wheel drive market with all-new cars. You can see the showcar Oltre Fiat behind me, this car demonstrates that when it comes to engineering we dominate the subject. It is based on an Iveco military vehicle and is probably one of the toughest vehicles in the world."

The Fiat Sedici takes pride of place on the four-wheel-drive dominated display, at it is being shown in several brighter new colour finishes that really serve to bring out the chunky, offroad characteristics of the car. This new model made its debut at the XX Winter Olympics in Turin last month, where it basked in its status as the 'Official Car' of 'Torino 2006'. By all accounts this brand-new niche player is set to be a success story. "We already have 3,000 orders just in Italy from a production of 20,000 in the first year," revealed De Meo. This has been achieved without announcing the official sale price or potential customers actually being able to test drive the car, he added. "We see it as the first popular SUV, meaning that because of price, and because of the running costs it will appeal to a wide range of potential customers that today drive smaller or more compact cars. For the first time in the market they will be able to offer themselves the practicality of four wheel drive technology and convenience of SUVs with compromising on what they are used to.
 

The car will be launched on 10th April in Italy, and 29th April in Switzerland together with other European countries. It will be sold at less than 19,000 euros," De Meo added.

Switching to the Sedici's smaller sister, De Meo said: "The Panda 4x4 is the best-selling 4x4 in Italy and incredible to say but one Panda out of four or five in Europe is all wheel drive." The burgeoning Panda range is being represented here by the Cross SUV, Monster limited edition and Eco concept car. With the Panda, Fiat not only dominates A-segment in Europe, he said, but they are really changing the way the small category is regarded. Reiterating that this car contributed to Fiat's bottom line: "Thinking of the production price of the Panda I always smile when people say 'small cars mean poor business," commented De Meo.

De Meo also had time to mentioned the Panda Monster: "It is my opinion that it is the perfect marriage between two cult products of Italian motor industry." Just 695 examples of the Panda Monster will be built, a number which reflects the cubic capacity of the new Ducati Monster bike. "We will never declare the official price, it is only an item for collectors or aficionados of the panda or the Ducati brand," he added.

The stylish Panda Eco has attracted a lot of attention here with its styling enhancements. "We are preparing for the long-term as the Panda Hydrogen which we have just presented at the Olympic Games in Torino demonstrates," continued De Meo. "We believe that in the short term today in the cities it is technically reliable, it is inexpensive for the consumer, it is just an easy, cheap, intelligent solution typical of Fiat. We are the leader in CNG in Europe, we sell more than 24,000 cars a year and we are ready to follow the development of distribution networks in countries like Germany and France." He added that Fiat expects to sell more than 30,000 CNG powered cars this year, and pointing to the Panda Eco concept car on the stand De Meo said it will turn in a 'remarkable environmental performance' while confirming that it is set to go into full production 'at the end of 2006'.

Finally, De Meo turned his attention to the new 'Blue&Me' infotainment system, developed with Microsoft, that is making its public debut here, and predicted a big future for this sort of technology. Signing off he promised Fiat's fans "big surprises" in the near future.

by Edd Ellison, James Granger & Hendrik Nuyens in Geneva