It was disappointing to see in the Auto Express survey that Fiat are bottom of the league when it comes to looking after customers and their cars. The next worse dealer was Alfa Romeo, so at least they are consistent in the Fiat group.

It's a real shame because if they had a good dealer network they would probably have a much better reputation, better residuals and more sales. Having said that, for the dealers to be consistently this bad a lot of responsibility must lay with the support they get from Fiat themselves.

I think it's time Fiat poached some of the key managers from the more successful brands to sort out the problem.

Depends what survey you read though doesn't it?

Poaching managers will have little effect as if the money isn't available what can you do,Fiat are actually trying their hardest to raise the image of Fiat but this will take time...like Skoda etc.Sales are good anyway.The road Fiat are going down with better training for techs with more updated courses being introduced all the time is the right way to go.Next would be courses for other staff...salesmen are beyond help though

Maybe customer expectations of the product is too high?

Most surveys show them in a bad light though, but it can't be just the dealers responsible. A decent set of managers at Fiat would be able to make the whole company more efficient so the money becomes available for better training. There are other car companies in the same financial position who seemare to better support their dealer network.

As for product expectations, this also applies to other makes as all customers have expectations of the car they are buying. If Fiat is at the bottom as a result it means that compared to other makes the expectations are not being realised very well.

I am not having a go at Fiat, because in other countries in Europe they have a much better rating by comparison and at the end of the day it is the same product so it must be something about how Fiat UK are handling things or the UK market.

It is mostly FIAT UK, and the second division FIAT dealers in the UK ( basically, unless they are interested in FIAT they only went for the franchise because they failed to get a more popular makes ) but there are problems in other countries too, just not as many.

I wouldn't give an Auto Express survey the time of day. They've always been anti-Italian car and pro anything remotely British. Waste of time...

Almost certain there was a recent change at Fiat management.
Training for techs paid for by dealers not Fiat.
Customer expectations as they want more for money,thus production is shifted to cheaper labour areas but is the quality of workmanship the same?
At dealer level is the UK customer too demanding,wanting everything done there & then at their convience & expecting parts dept to stock every part?
Fiat are selling cars & doing a heck of alot better than other manufacturers...& theres loads of good projects in the pipeline

I think the new Panda is a fantastic car having had one a couple of times, haven't had a go in the Grand Punto but it looks nice and seems good value with a lot of spec. So in terms of product I think they have some great cars.

The survey is a customer survey so it doesn't matter whether Auto Express likes Italian cars or not and in fact they think the new Alfa 159 is a great car which will worry the rival German execs. Have you read it recently.