Anybody get called yet from Fiat about Prima Edizione Delivery?

[CaliberSRT4]

Lots of foreign manufacturers build their cars in the US to sell here because it is significantly cheaper to do it that way. Doesn't make them American cars though.

[MrJones]

John Reid wrote

It's built in Oxford, England.

Good point, however, the 500 is built in Mexico, so I suppose that makes it a Mexican car? I'm not trying to give you a hard time!

[MrJones]

CaliberSRT4 wrote

Lots of foreign manufacturers build their cars in the US to sell here because it is significantly cheaper to do it that way. Doesn't make them American cars though.

Just beat me to it. I type too slow!

[Giallo Edizione]

John Reid wrote

It's built in Oxford, England.

Careful. That logic stream will lead you to argue your new FIAT 500 is a Mexican car.

MINI built in Britain by British craftsmen for that special British character.
Engineered and managed by Germans to make sure it stays that way.

[CaliberSRT4]

MrJones wrote

John Reid wrote

It's built in Oxford, England.

Good point, however, the 500 is built in Mexico, so I suppose that makes it a Mexican car? I'm not trying to give you a hard time!

And if you get a 500 in Europe, then it suddenly becomes a Polish car!

[John Reid]

Whatever they are, they sell themselves as British.  Their shirts, caps, and other merchandise display the British flag.  I've got enough of the stuff.  All I was saying in the beginning is that they did a much better job of communicating with their customers during the build process than Fiat is doing now.  

[Giallo Edizione]

John Reid wrote

Whatever they are, they sell themselves as British.  Their shirts, caps, and other merchandise display the British flag.  I've got enough of the stuff.  All I was saying in the beginning is that they did a much better job of communicating with their customers during the build process than Fiat is doing now.

Amen to that.

I had all that stuff and two MINI's ( '03 MCS and '68 MCS clone) till last couple of months. Liquidated both, along with all the stuff, to pay for the 500. I'll still get a hard time from the wife.

[5*(10)^2]

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[NM dude]

Paul, if you don`t mind, could you check on #201? Bet it is hanging out with Gavin`s car in Santa Rosa, NM! There is a big storage lot in Santa Rosa where cars are off loaded and  I guess picked up by transport trucks or transfered to other trains. You can see it on the south side of I-40. I live in Clovis, NM, 100 miles from Santa Rosa. Tempted to run up there and see what I can see. My car  should be going to the  Austin, TX dealer.

[PaulL]

Your right! Its hanging out in Santa Rosa, NM! You and Gavin should plan a road trip and break in the lot to get your cars!

I'm waiting to hear from our FIAT rep, she said she was in a meeting in Detroit today regarding the Prima deliveries. Hopefully she gives me some good news tomorrow, or at least a solid timetable as far as the deliveries go.

[kmarei]

could i trouble you to check prima #140 for me?
supposed to be heading to the washington DC Metro area
thanks a million!

[PaulL]

On Railcar, Texarkana, AR, destination Jessup, MD, ETA 3/9

[Gavin]

Is there an ETA for 201 and 137?

I would be more than happy to get the car from the Santa rosa train depot vs Austin....100 miles vs 700 miles.

Gavin

[Fiat500USA]

FiatLancia wrote

Hi Jeff. I'm in Berks (Douglassville). For exactly the example you cited, I'm avoiding that dealership you mention. I actually drove up there to meet with them in person a month or two ago, and have tried continuously to reach out to them since then, but even at this late stage in the game, nobody up there ever seems to have a....well, I'll stop myself there out of politeness. I'll be getting #011 from Criswell in Gaithersburg MD. Three hours from here versus one for a closer dealer, but they have been very responsive, courteous, helpful, and, well, perhaps most importantly, INTERESTED - in the brand and in doing what they can for Fiat enthusiasts. They even hosted a club meeting at their then-in-progress facility last month. I've personally visited many of the local dealerships and my choice was not an easy one, but it was a clear one.

Do you have other Italian cars? Are you a member of FLU? Great club, and we have a great chapter here in Eastern PA/Southern NJ/Delaware.

For anything off-list, you can get my email from my website, link below.

Good luck and I look forward to meeting you (and your Prima!) someday.

Best regards,
Shaun
www.FiatLancia.com

Hi Shaun, welcome to the forum!  I agree with you. We need motivated dealers.  

[John Reid]

I'm afraid I've lost my enthusiasm and am almost ready to quit. I owned two Fiats in the 70's, still own an '80 X 1/9 and was thrilled to see the brand returning to the USA. After all the delays, broken promises (most important being that we could change our order before delivery) and inability to answer simple questions I'm concerned. On the last afternoon of the week we were scheduled to get a call from the Fiat line, I finally called them. They said that they were just getting ready to call me (sure) and that my car would be delivered to Shreveport. I told the girl that was odd since I live in Kansas City, 20 minutes away from a dealer authorized to deliver cars. After being put on hold she told me it would be delivered to Kansas City and that I would be getting a call this week to confirm from the dealer in...Shreveport. Friday, 10:45 still no call. I thought we were the 'passionate" Fiat customers. I thought they would make a real effort to show us why we should embrace the Fiat brand. If this is the best they can do, how well will they deliver parts and supply service in the future? They've have my money for 5 months and if not for this excellent forum I wouldn't know much more than I did then. Thanks to everyone who has shared information and pictures. Sorry, just venting.  

[John Reid]

I'm afraid I've lost my enthusiasm and am almost ready to quit. I owned two Fiats in the 70's, still own an '80 X 1/9 and was thrilled to see the brand returning to the USA. After all the delays, broken promises (most important being that we could change our order before delivery) and inability to answer simple questions I'm concerned. On the last afternoon of the week we were scheduled to get a call from the Fiat line, I finally called them. They said that they were just getting ready to call me (sure) and that my car would be delivered to Shreveport. I told the girl that was odd since I live in Kansas City, 20 minutes away from a dealer authorized to deliver cars. After being put on hold she told me it would be delivered to Kansas City and that I would be getting a call this week to confirm from the dealer in...Shreveport. Friday, 10:45 still no call. I thought we were the 'passionate" Fiat customers. I thought they would make a real effort to show us why we should embrace the Fiat brand. If this is the best they can do, how well will they deliver parts and supply service in the future? They've have my money for 5 months and if not for this excellent forum I wouldn't know much more than I did then. Thanks to everyone who has shared information and pictures. Sorry, just venting.  

[kmarei]

well so far, i'm not impressed with fiat
no real info on cars
why can't they send me an email saying where the car is?
i mean it's only 500 cars
imagine what happens if this car is a success and they have to track 40 or 50K cars :)
they took too long to pick dealers
they picked too many dealers that were building new facilites, that should have been stage 2
they announced the prima way too early, without any clue on options/pricing etc
you'd think after the horrible reputation they had 27 years ago, they'd be bending over backwards to try to get everything right this time.

[5*(10)^2]

kmarei wrote

well so far, i'm not impressed with fiat...

Most of us feel the same. I called Fiat yesterday to vent that we have to find out about the PE interior from a Canadian PE holder instead of from Fiat.

I'd recommend you call in and vent. So least  they get an idea that we are not impressed!

[sketch]

They won't have to track 40 or 50 thousand cars because those 40 or 50
thousand people won't really care that much! :p

[kmarei]

actually you'd be surprised
i just bought my wife a BMW X3
they have online tracking, including live video shots of the production line
and when the car was built i got a video that showed various stages of the build of MY car
it doesn't take much effort to do these things
a few techies and a few thousand dollars on IT equipment.
i could track my car along the whole way
when production started, when it was in quality control, shipping, i even found out it was on the way to the dealer and called him up and arranged for pick up.
you mean to tell me that even internally within fiat they can't track all their cars?
why not give us access to that info from a nice little portal on the fiat website?