Fiat Offers Cheap Fuel Price for Italian Buyers

Italian vehicle company Fiat offered new car buyers Friday the chance to purchase fuel at one euro (around $1.24) a liter, about half the current price in Italy, for up to three years.

The offer, running through June and July, only applies to Fiat cars bought in Italy, and does not apply to other brands owned by the group, which include Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Maserati and Ferrari.

Under the deal, buyers are to receive a smart card enabling them to buy a quantity of petrol or diesel at the cut price, depending on the model purchased, from 4,500 liters of petrol for the new Freemont SUV to 1,200 for a small Panda.

The cards are valid in any of the 4,200 IP filling stations in Italy for three years from the date of acquiring the car.

Petrol prices are hovering around two euros a liter in Italy, having just been increased by two cents to help pay for reconstructing areas in the northeast of the country hit by two earthquakes last month.

The transport ministry said Friday that new car sales dropped in May by 14.26 percent to 147,102 vehicles, a reflection of the recession that has gripped the third-biggest Eurozone economy.

Fiat sales were 11.2 percent lower in May, but its market share increased to 31.58 percent from 30.51 percent in the same month a year earlier, the ministry data showed.

The Italian automaker, which also owns the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands has received a boost from U.S. sales that jumped by 30 percent on the year in May.