Reports are that Fiat has planned sales of 50,000 Fiat 500 models in the US market when it turns up later this year.
Those figures are good for 2011 as well, but that sounds like a lot of little cars in a big car market to us.
The Fiat Group is planning not only ambitious sales targets (so it would seem), but also a comprehensive dealership plan to accommodate the re-appearance of Fiat brands on the US market.
Originally announcing that Fiat 500 models would occupy a kind of show-off corner in Chrysler showrooms, that plan changed recently to creating brand new Fiat dealerships in the US which will also eventually host new Alfa Romeo models arriving in 2012.
165 dealerships in metropolitan areas have since been announced but we wonder if they will all survive off the back of one model until other Alfa models turn up.
While the Fiat 500 will be sold in all its various versions, 50,000 sales and dedicated dealerships is a big responsibility to be shouldering.
We can only hope that the US is ready for a wave of retro-appealing models and that Fiat and Alfa plans to re-enter the US market prove successful.
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