Chrysler
Group has announced long-term lease deals for the Fiat
500, as it attempts to reverse declining U.S. sales and
clear out the thousands of unsold cars that have been
accumulated in storage lots as sales fell far below
projections.
The programme, called ‘Sign & Drive’, will allow
customers to lease a 2012 Model Year Fiat 500 for US$199
per month, with “no money due at signing”. The credit is
being financed through Ally Financial or US Bank. Tax,
title and license are all additional to this price.
The lease is quite lengthy, at 42 months. This factor
may put some consumers off when for a similar cost per
month, one can lease a larger C-segment car. Under this
offer, customers must take delivery of their 500 by
January 3.
“Customers who have been considering a Fiat 500 purchase
or lease now have even more reason to check one out
today,” believes Reid Bigland, President and CEO of the
Dodge brand, and Head of Chrysler Group U.S. Sales.
The lease is only available on the entry-level 500 ‘Pop’
version with manual transmission, which has a retail
price of US$15,500 for the fixed-roof 500 and US$19,000
for the convertible 500C. Both prices are subject to a
$500 ‘destination’ charge.
The new offer comes as Chrysler Group becomes
increasingly desperate to shift a huge stockpile of
accumulated 500s. It was revealed that at the start of
November, supply stood at a massive 184 days, and the
picture has little changed since, with sales of the
supermini currently in freefall. After peaking at just
over 3,000 units in July and August, sales slipped down
to 2,733 units in September and then to 1,965 units in
October. Last month, as Fiat North America faced the
full public glare of the disastrous product endorsement
by actress and singer Jennifer Lopez and the torrent of
knock-on brand damage which resulted, sales slipped even
further, to just 1,618 units. This decline also came as
the dealership network approached full strength,
counteracting talk of a lack of reach which had been one
of Chrysler Group’s main excuses for the 500’s poor
sales.
Originally, Chrysler Group had optimistically predicted
50,000 sales of the 500 per year. With the 500’s
residuals unlikely to be particularly strong, Fiat is
effectively underwriting the cost of any excessive
depreciation over the course of the lease. In this
respect, matters have not been helped in recent weeks,
with the 500 being pushed through several downmarket
discount retail channels such as overstocked.com.
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