Let me insert some info from a different perspective.
In the late 60's I worked for a small import dealer that sold Saabs and Fiats,
but gained most of its revenues working on and race
preparing foreign cars.
The Fiats looked sexier but because we were provided nothing in the way of
service manuals, spare parts, training or sales literature,
we were hard pressed to support the cars when and if they were sold. Our
experiences with the reliability of the cars was poor at
best. I would guess that each one we sold (and it wasn't many because the
owner canned the program after it was clear that we were on
our own) came back at least twice for major repairs and stayed entirely too
long while we awaited parts.
The Saabs on the other hand were immensely more reliable and we always had
factory representatives visiting us to give assistance and
update us on changes and service notes that were always in process.
Two companies with entirely different perspectives on how to market cars.
Joe
Fred Thomas wrote:
>
> L.G. & list, just referring to my area and my experience with Fiats, when
> they started mass selling of these cars in the late 50" through all of the
> larger U.S. dealers, the dealers had no trained help, no parts, absolutely
> no service available after the sale, they were only interested in ringing
> the cash register and going on. The product very well could have been good,
> the backup was extremely bad and this caused a word of mouth and
> publications to start crying out loud and clear, the results are still
> evident today. Remember we had the same thing in our sports cars, but these
> cars were not for family use in those days as the Fiats were and most
> British cars were being sold by small independent dealers not Detroit back
> dealers, so I guess the results of very poor customer service have never
> left the US buying public. "FT"
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