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After rocky start, Fiat picks up speed in U.S.
In February, Fiat had its best month yet in the U.S. with sales of 3,227. As of last week, Fiat 500 sales for March were on pace to do even better, said Timothy Kuniskis, head of the Fiat brand.
"I'm holding my breath, but to beat February would be a big, big win for us," Kuniskis said last week.
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Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics in Birmingham, questions those who say Fiat's first year was a failure.
Hall compares Fiat with the 2002 launch of the Mini. That year, BMW sold 24,590 Minis in the U.S. -- just 5,000 more than Fiat, which sold 19,769 in the U.S. last year.
"Mini was launched at a time when the economy was exploding with a gorilla marketing campaign that started about 11 months before they launched the car," Hall said.
Fiat, in contrast, was launched without an early national marketing campaign in a much slower economy.
"I don't consider their launch a failure or even a troubled one," Hall said.
http://www.freep.com/article/20120322/B ... speed-U-S-
AND...they are beautiful, too!

http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-sh ... 120322.htm