Fiat’s commercial vehicle division, the ‘Professional Light’ has just announced that they will sell the Mitsubishi Triton pickup rebadged as a Fiat for the European and Latin American market only. Fiat Chrysler’s five-year business plan unveiled this year calls for a rollout of a pickup for Europe and Latin America in 2016. Fiat’s current pickup lineup includes the Strada fwd unibody small pickup that is produced in Brazil and sold in Europe and Latin America. The Strada was also Fiat Professional’s best-selling model in 2013 at 134,000 units sold.
Fiat Chrysler chief executive Sergio Marchionne is targeting to return to profit in Europe by 2016 and giving Fiat Professional more vehicles to sell is a vital part of the plan. The carmaker has posted cumulative losses reaching EUR2.15 billion (USD2.93 billion) in Europe.
Marchionne, under his 2006 business plan for Fiat, had vowed to offer a large pickup with a one-ton loading capacity by 2008. The pickup was to be built Fiat’s sit in Argentina and will be underpinned by the same platform that underpins Tata Motors’ Xenon. Fiat, however, decided not to pursue producing its own version of the Xenon. Similar plans made its way in Marchionne’s 2010 business strategy, but the large pickup never came to life.
