Frankfurt - Italian carmaker Fiat is counting on the popularity of its relaunched FIAT 500 to boost sales in Germany. The company hopes sales of its Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and commercial vehicle models will top 130,000 this year compared to 109,298 in 2007, Fiat managing director for Germany Manfred Kantner said in an interview.
Last year was difficult for all on the German market, where new registrations slumped to 3.14 million - a drop of more than 9 per cent from 2006, he said.
Fiat sales were also down slightly but it was able to maintain its market share of 2.3 per cent.
But this is not enough for Kantner. "I'd like to see a steady 3 per cent or more," he said, adding that he hoped to achieve this target by 2010.
He also called on the German government to make a quick decision on whether it is going to change car taxes from the current engine-size system to one based on emissions.
"As long as this Sword of Damocles is hanging over consumers, nothing is going to happen," he said.
Kantner sees the core brand Fiat as the driving force for growth, anticipating sales this year of more than 90,000 compared to 74,000 in 2007.
In addition to the Fiat 500, Kantner is hoping the Fiat Croma and the new Bravo models will appeal to customers.
The new 500, successor to the legendary Cinquecento, "has given us a lot of pleasure, not only in Germany, but in the rest of Europe as well," he said.
There have been 140,000 orders for the new compact, 7,000 of them in Germany, he said. Kantner hopes to sell 15,000 of the cars in Germany this year if production keeps up with demand.
"At the moment things look good," he said.
Kantner said demand for the Fiat 500 was so strong that dealers did not have to offer discounts like other manufacturers.
