By ALISTAIR KENNEDY
20 November 2006

Although Fiat has only been back on the Australian passenger car market for four months the company’s determination to make an impact here has been shown during a brief visit by the president of the company’s car division.

Speaking at a dinner in Sydney hosted by Fiat’s local importer, Ateco Automotive, Luca De Meo spoke of Australia, with its diverse car market, as a "good battlefield" to test the mettle of the revived Fiat brand. With the trend for downsizing in Australia cars seemingly well under way he sees this as an ideal time for Fiat, a small car specialist, to break into our market.

De Meo also views Australia as an ideal opportunity to attract young buyers, who are less likely to be aware of the quality and reliability problems which plagued Fiat prior to its departure from Australia back in 1989.

The downside to this lack of local brand identity is likely to be that young potential buyers will not attach the same status to Fiat as they would to better-known brands in the same market such as Peugeot, Citroen, Renault and Volkswagen. Rather they’re more likely to see Fiat as a new brand, similar to relatively recent arrivals such as Kia and Proton and expect to pay a Korean/Japanese price rather than a European one.

So there’s a real challenge for Fiat to overcome but there’s a freshness about the revived Italian company that suggests it could succeed.

Rather than bring in a large range of existing models Ateco has chosen to add selected new models as they are launched in Europe. The only model on sale here at the moment is the small Punto hatchback which was released in July 2006 but Fiat and Ateco plan one new model to be added during each of the next three years.

Next in line is the small-medium Bravo due to be unveiled in Europe in January 2007 and set to arrive in Australia late next year. It will be given a new name for Australia, the Bravo nameplate already being used here by Mazda.

The return of the legendary Fiat 500 is scheduled for 2008 and it will be followed by an, as yet unnamed seven-seat SUV crossover vehicle.