the view of people on a fiat forum is bound to be more biased than a radio show, so you could argue that the radio show was a more accurate representation of public opinion than posts on this forum.
i personally think the GP is bad, and the stilo was a joke, so i agree with the radio show. that doesnt mean the GP is bad or the stilo was a joke, its all about the opinion of differnt market segments, and as long as you appeal to your target market it doesnt matter what everyone else thinks.
the grand punto seems popular with young ladies but not very popular with men. thats not too surprising as men tend not to like any supermini class cars, they aren't desgined for men so that doesnt matter. if girls like them then the GP is a success as thats it target market. i personally think its crap but that doesnt mean it is crap, fiat had no intentions of selling that car to me or people like me so my opinion isn't relevant. i'm sure it'll be a good girl's car once all the faults are ironed out.
generally the stilo has always been seen as a step backwards to the bravo and it didnt compete very well so i guess a lot of people thought that too. the rest of the market improved dramatically around the time of the stilo's release, even the cheap and cheerful badges got things right, but fiat released the stilo flop and i think the most common word i've heard to describe it in reviews is 'mediocre', so not as good as it should be. doesnt mean it was a bad car, but it wasnt good enough compared to the rest of the market. if you be honest it looks boring and didnt appeal to buyers. who was it aimed at? it wasnt stong in any market because it didn't appeal to any market specifically. that was a fialing of the car, doesnt mean it was a bad car as such, but it failed to sell and you cant blame that on anything except fiat.
the soon to be released grade bravo is aimed at me (although more at families tbh) and I like it less than the GP. its basically just an overweight GP, if you take a girls car and make it bigger it wont suddenly attract a more mature crowd, it'll just attract girls who need room for the kids. i think it will appeal to mothers who want a fmaily car, and i bet the vast majority of grande bravos sold will be 5 door for that reason. just wait and see. it wont get many blokes buying, its just too feminine and friendly looking (least italian design in years)
dont take this as a stab at fiat, i wouldnt own one if i thought they were crap, i'm just trying to explain why public opinion is the way it is. its not about how good a car is or how stylish it looks, its about how much it appeals to its target market. thats the measure of a car's success and thats what produces strong sales. the stilo wasn't a success, i think the GP will do better but it wont beat corsa or fiesta in the uk, and the GB will probably do ok, but i still think the focus and astra are better and will beat it. the real problem is the rise of the little guys in this industry, kia hyundai etc are getting better at a faster rate than fiat, so I expect the market to become even more competitve in the future. that means someone is going to suffer, and that will be whoever makes the least appealing cars. i doubt fiat have to seriously worry about survival, but they cant expect to have stong sales when better built more reliable cheaper alternatives are cropping up all the time. its hard times ahead