14 June 2001: Fiat Auto dealers throughout the world will be required to develop strategic business plans as a follow-up to a just-concluded two-week International Dealer Conference held in Milan.

The event was conducted by Fiat Auto VP for Sales and Marketing J J Diaz Ruiz (above). Paolo Gagliardo, who takes up the position of Chief Executive Officer with Fiat Auto Ireland at the end of June, was a key contributor, reflecting his involvement in the development of the new Fiat Stilo, which will be launched in September.

Some 6,000 participants represented more than 2,000 dealerships from 25 countries, for the group's three core brands - Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia. Irish dealers were among those present, and Fiat Auto Ireland was represented by the company's MD, Paddy Corcoran (pictured right with Paolo Gagliardo).

The exercise provided a two-way interaction for all areas of the Fiat Auto Network and a series of workshops were held which helped to develop an overall and individualised branding strategies for the Fiat marques.

Under the conference theme of 'Together to Win', dealers were shown how other highly-branded products like Gucci and Nike developed and 'loyalised' their customers.

The Fiat Auto Group will produce 19 new models over the next three years, nine of them under the Fiat brand, including the upcoming Stilo. Others are the Lancia Thesis and the Alfa Romeo 156 GTA (left) which will be in Ireland this time next year. Among the group-wide strategies which are being developed is a strong customer care orientation.

IrishCar.Com will give full details of the strategies developed at the conference in a special feature next week. BB