{"id":18005,"date":"2016-02-06T16:46:51","date_gmt":"2016-02-06T20:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=18005"},"modified":"2016-02-06T16:46:51","modified_gmt":"2016-02-06T20:46:51","slug":"payne-qauto-fiat-chiefs-new-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2016\/02\/payne-qauto-fiat-chiefs-new-toys","title":{"rendered":"Payne, Q&Auto: Fiat chief\u2019s new toys"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Broderdorf_fiat124\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a muscle car junkie with the Dodge Challenger,\u201d says Bob Broderdorf, ex-chief of the Fiat-Chrysler performance car brand. \u201cTo deliver those cars \u2013 Hellcats, 392s \u2013 I\u2019m very passionate. My dad had an old Barracuda. Woodward Dream Cruise is what I got excited about growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Broderdorf is packaging excitement in a much smaller box.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old Detroit native is the new captain of Fiat North America. He inherits an iconic Italian name that has struggled in the U.S. even as it has filled out its menu with more Yankee-friendly dishes like the Fiat 500X crossover \u2013 and received unexpected endorsements from a 500L-chauffered pope. Don\u2019t ask Broderdorf about Pope Francis (always best not to mix religion and cars), but he\u2019ll talk \u2019til sundown about the summer arrival of Fiat\u2019s next big \u2013 er, little \u2013 thing: the 124 Spider.<\/p>\n

Broderdorf was handpicked by FCA car QB Tim Kuniskis to run Fiat, and it\u2019s easy to see why. The two men share a youthful energy marked by a machine-gun delivery of facts and figures. And if Broderdorf can sprinkle some of that Hellcat marketing magic on Fiat, then the Spider will charm Dream Cruisers everywhere.<\/p>\n

I sat down with Broderdorf in Los Angeles to talk Fiats, Miatas and Minis.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Your first car?<\/p>\n

Broderdorf:\u00a0Dodge Neon.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0The 124 was originally conceived as an Alfa. Now a Fiat. Why?<\/p>\n

Broderdorf:\u00a0Anytime you have an opportunity to have a partnership to launch a car like this \u2013 the 124 Spider \u2013 this is a platform that allowed us to do that. The idea of paying homage to the past… plays really well to what we have done previously for the Fiat brand.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0The last 124 was made until 1985. How many sold?<\/p>\n

Broderdorf:\u00a0In 1966 it was first announced in Italy. Then (from 1968-1985) it came here. Over that time frame, 170,000 were sold in the U.S. market \u2013 by far the most of the 200,000 they sold overall. It was a big deal here.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Where will the new, Mazda Miata-based 124 be built?<\/p>\n

Broderdorf:\u00a0Hiroshima, Japan. Building it there leverages the platform to build two unique interpretations of the car. There are lots of synergies that the platform enables. Both (Miata and 124) have taken a different spin at the rear-wheel drive roadster. We wanted to make sure that if you put that badge on this car there is a whole cult following that is really excited about it. There is still a (U.S.) owner\u2019s club with 8,000 members. If we can play the heartstrings of those people… then we are on the right track.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Engine shared with the Abarth?<\/p>\n

Broderdorf:\u00a0Powertrain is 100 percent Italian. 1.4-liter Multi-air \u2013 160 horsepower mated with automatic and manual transmissions.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Throwback styling?<\/p>\n

Broderdorf:\u00a0It starts with face of the car. The old Spider had the hexagonal gril \u2013 that very clear face. Fiats overall are pleasant, not overly aggressive, very concentrated. Headlamps and taillights play homage to that. And the side of the car had a horizontal line from fender to the rear \u2013 we maintained that. Even where the license plate is bracketed plays homage to the original car, but we still put a modern twist on it.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0You have a compact, a sports car, two crossovers… How have sales gone with the X?<\/p>\n

Broderdorf:\u00a0We\u2019re happy with sales. Making great progress. We\u2019re getting buyers into the marketplace \u2013 they are taking a look at it. The key piece is all-wheel drive. A lot of our sales come in the southern markets. To get the northern markets on board we need the AWD feature.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Like your close competitor Mini Cooper, will Fiat always be a small brand?<\/p>\n

Broderdorf:\u00a0There is a fine line between niche and mainstream. The most important thing for Fiat is (that people say) the number one reason to buy is \u201cfun to drive.\u201d When we stay in that vein, we grow. But we need to build cars the right way \u2013 that\u2019s more important than just hammering down volume.<\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Is California important for you?<\/p>\n

Broderdorf:\u00a0This is my No. One market in the U.S. It\u2019s important to be here. There is a trendy cool factor. If things take off here in California \u2013 particularly some of your urban markets \u2013 then some of the cities like New York, Miami, New York will most quickly adopt to it. The original announcement of the brand was here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019m a muscle car junkie with the Dodge Challenger,\u201d says Bob Broderdorf, ex-chief of the Fiat-Chrysler performance car brand. \u201cTo deliver those cars \u2013 Hellcats, 392s \u2013 I\u2019m very passionate. My dad had an old Barracuda. Woodward Dream Cruise is what I got excited about growing up.\u201d Now Broderdorf is packaging excitement in a much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18006,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18005\/revisions\/18006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}