Re: Size of FIAT

[Simon Favre <favres@domain.elided>]

Finally, some REAL data. Thanks Ed. For those of us who like
pie charts and percentages, here's the way it slices up:


European Sales by Manufacturer, January through December 1997:

Volkswagen - 2,301,822  --------------- 17.4%
General Motors - 1,623,566  ----------- 12.3%
Fiat Group - 1,597,422  --------------- 12.1%
Puegeot - 1,516,024  ------------------ 11.5%
Ford - 1,507,598  --------------------- 11.4%
Renault - 1,326,185  ------------------ 10.0%
BMW Group (includes Rover) - 821,198  -  6.2%
Mercedes - 495,148  -------------------  3.7%
Nissan - 400,872  ---------------------  3.0%
Toyota - 372,575  ---------------------  2.8%
Volvo - 231,540  ----------------------  1.8%
Honda - 216,218  ----------------------  1.6%
Mazda - 184,834  ----------------------  1.4%
Mitsubishi - 176,289  -----------------  1.3%
Suzuki - 138,716  ---------------------  1.1%

and less than 100,000 units each: Chrysler, Subaru, Daihatsu, 
Lada, etc.

Allowing 300,000 for the Misc category above gives 2.3%. Plus or 
minus 100,000 cars in the Misc category only affects the front
runners by 0.1%.

It would be interesting to see the same companies listed for
the US market, along with the Rest of World (ROW) numbers. Some
of the trailing suppliers above would be seem much more 
significant.  In particular, the Japanese makers sell significant
percentages of their output here, but don't seem to do well in
Europe.  In the US list, Peugeot and Renault would be zero, and 
Fiat would be represented by the tiny number from Ferrari. Do the
French makers really sell well outside of France?

Ed's right about the cold numbers. Fiat has no reason to return
with such good prospects elsewhere.  If Mercedes sells 100,000
in the US, that adds 20% to sales made on their home turf.  For
Fiat to go to great lengths for another 6% does not make good
business sense.