Some more good news on Fiat/Lancia revival.

[J333EVO]

http://business.scotsman.com/transport.cfm?id=2383142005


Can only be good news as this shows Fiat/Lancia is going to get a stronger profile in the publics eye and hopefully lead to more sales and therefore safeguard the company.

Aaron.

 

[dave]

lots of words on that site does it say we getting rhd Lancias in the uk?

 

[Gav]

Yes, from 2008 according to that article. RHD is in quite a few markets around the world, so hopefully more manufacturers will design new cars to be both LHD and RHD rather than having a workaround...

 

[jamie86]

Bring it on :slayer:

Hope they train their mechanics on Old Lancia's as well :yum:

 

[PNL]

very good news indeed the last thing all fiat owners need is Fiat going belly up

 

[sumplug]

here's the rub. lancia have a bad press name here. people still remember the beta. but the most serious worry is the fiat franchise attitude that no doubt will transfer over to lancia dealers. indeed, lancia proberly will sell out of the same franchises. these dealers cannot sell and maintain fiats properly. there inept attitude to customers is ludicrous. what hope has lancia as a new franchise? the only way is for them to be independent of fiat UK. then they have a good chance. if not, they will sink. i think lancia need a couple of "star cars" to get them going. an integrale replacement will help, as will going rallying again and or perhaps circuit racing.

 

[dave]

but the most serious worry is the fiat franchise attitude that no doubt will transfer over to lancia dealers. indeed, lancia proberly will sell out of the same franchises. these dealers cannot sell and maintain fiats properly.

thats totaly unfair, there are bad dealers with all makes of car, my local fiat dealer are very good, so is stus. there are also some main dealer tech on here who are top blokes so i cant see anyone who takes their cat to them having any problem, please dont tar them all with the same brush.

 

[sumplug]

thats totaly unfair, there are bad dealers with all makes of car, my local fiat dealer are very good, so is stus. there are also some main dealer tech on here who are top blokes so i cant see anyone who takes their cat to them having any problem, please dont tar them all with the same brush.

iam talking majority of fiat dealers. small independents work ok because they fight fiat uk all the time. the big dealers with volume sales don't give a toss. trying to get your car serviced or buy parts off them is a very difficult situation at times. more and more people i know who are fiat owners are sick of the inept attitude of these dealers. once they have your money, goodbye! trying to get warranty work done is like knitting fog. excuse after excuse is used. they have so much work, that they farm it out to lessen the burden. indeed, there are cars going back to the main dealers with faults that are seemly incurable. then if the car is farmed out, the car is fixed. these same main dealers when asked for a test drive on the new croma tell you its unlikely a test drive will be available. this is what one of the gtr machester dealer said to a friend of mine. a new car which cannot be test driven! he's contacted a small dealer 20 miles away, and they have a test drive available right away. theas cars are not shooting out of the main dealers. surely they can accomadate a test drive? as i said, fiat uk and its main dealers are cr*p.

 

[toby2449]

great news, i hope it happens, Lancia should have a gorgeous little coupe based on the Fulvia concept car too in the not too distant future!

 

[sumplug]

great news, i hope it happens, Lancia should have a gorgeous little coupe based on the Fulvia concept car too in the not too distant future!

last i heard about this gorgeous concept to reality, its still in the balance. i hope they make it. it just blows me away. perfect car lets hope all the behind the scenes is sorted out. a great product backed with a national dedicated team of dealers is what we need.

 

[Steven]

sumplug is spot on. Unless they sort the dealers out it's a waste of time. I would love to be able to buy a new RHD Lancia though.

 

[Stu DemonD]

the big dealers with volume sales don't give a toss. trying to get your car serviced or buy parts off them is a very difficult situation at times. more and more people i know who are fiat owners are sick of the inept attitude of these dealers. once they have your money, goodbye! trying to get warranty work done is like knitting fog. excuse after excuse is used.

So this covers ALL FIAT dealers, or only the ones you have happened to have dealings with? It does seem such a sweeping statement, yet so far from the truth

• My dealer is massive, with volume sales, and does give a toss to a certain extent;
• I have had both cars regularly serviced through them, with offers of courtesy cars and that said car being dropped off to my house in the morning;
• I have ordered parts from them, and received a postcard a few days later saying goods have arrived;
• I have sat down with the techs and foreman, discussed car issues and played with Examiner;
• I have had a multitude of warranty work done through them, even with the Stilo modded.

So where are these excuses that I am supposed to be hearing? This is my experience, others may be different, but lets not generalise

 

[Steven]

I think it's accepted that the majority of Fiat/Alfa dealers are poor. That's undoubtedly true. There are exceptions to the rule of course.

 

[Stu DemonD]

There are exceptions to the rule of course.

I totally agree

I have also seen crap service with Mercedes Benz dealerships

 

[sumplug]

So this covers ALL FIAT dealers, or only the ones you have happened to have dealings with? It does seem such a sweeping statement, yet so far from the truth

• My dealer is massive, with volume sales, and does give a toss to a certain extent;
• I have had both cars regularly serviced through them, with offers of courtesy cars and that said car being dropped off to my house in the morning;
• I have ordered parts from them, and received a postcard a few days later saying goods have arrived;
• I have sat down with the techs and foreman, discussed car issues and played with Examiner;
• I have had a multitude of warranty work done through them, even with the Stilo modded.

So where are these excuses that I am supposed to be hearing? This is my experience, others may be different, but lets not generalise

all i can say is stu, that being a member of a few fiat clubs, is that i here/see what other people go through with fiat dealers. and its not very nice. even my neighbours who over the yrs ive converted to fiats are now shying away from them. my adjacent neighbour has three fiats in the family. a marea[been very reliable and had owner service only], brava, and stilo. both the stilo and brava are being replaced by non fiats because of there awful reliability[mainly dealer serviced due to working away]. shame. you are very fortunate to have a good dealer. they are generally a minority. they should be a majority. fiat uk know this and should sort it out. new head management has recently taken over at fiat uk, so lets see if things improve.

 

[dave]

but if you go to sites of clubs/forums of other makes of car you will read the same about them dealers, fact is people will talk more of any bad service they get than they do of any good service.

 

[Steven]

I can't believe this is being argued about!

FIAT AND ALFA HAVE SOME OF THE WORST DEALERS IN THE COUNTRY. Thier attitude is appauling. This is indesputable. Owners will tell you that, surveys will tell you that, questionaires will tell you that and the dog on the street will tell you that.

Even Fiat have recognised this and admitted it, if you like I'll dig out the press release. They have changed UK management on more then one occasion in recent years in an effort to improve things.

 

[PNL]

I think there are good and bad dealers whatever car you drive hres a good one in Cardiff Yapps Garages Alfa/Fiat main dealer even a mate of mine goes there and he drives a Passat, Vw wanted £1000 to sort out software ecu problems he took it to Yapps his bill was £175 now that tells you smomething dont you think well done Yapps at Fidlas Rd Cadiff [OK mate you can gve me that backander now]

 

[sumplug]

we are talking here about bringing in lancia who had an appaling record when they folded the franchises. fiat too, has a bad reputation wherever you look. it is in the process of cleaning up its act. it needs too as sales in europe of fiats is declining. for lancia to launch, it needs franchises that are dedicated and good at what they do. as i said before, fiat need to make this a majority, not a minority. defending there careless attitude of the majority is not right.

 

[PNL]

Ime not defending anybody just stateing that this dealer has a good rep dont tarr everybody with the same brush just because some are crap does not justify blameing the good also