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The other side of the brand's business in Australia is where the bulk of the sales volume lay for 2012
Fiat is in the same boat Hyundai used to be.
Once upon a time Hyundai was jokingly referred to as the Excel Car Company, as that was almost its sole line-up.
Now the same fate has hit Fiat in Australia, becoming the '500 company' with the rest of its product in a holding pattern while its Italian parent puts together an arsenal to target Volkswagen.
Alfa Romeo and Fiat general manager Andrei Zaitzev says the Fiat vehicles previously in the Australian marketplace could not be positioned in the local marketplace to be competitive and profitable.
"We're only interested in vehicles that achieve that aim - we tried with Punto and Ritmo but it became clear that when VW became serious about that end of the market, we were woefully uncompetitive - as good as those cars were, they just weren't competitive against the Golf in particular," he says.
Mr Zaitzev says the Fiat brand was unlikely to expand beyond to include something other than the 500 until the Punto was updated in 2013.
"There's a Punto update due out this year, we've got our eyes open on that but the next major update is 2013, that's probably going to be the one that is most competitive for our market," he says.
"We'll be pretty busy in 2012 and then in 2013 it will be a case of rolling out the products when they're made available to us, the automated gearbox is critical to us, look at what VW does with DSG."
The 500 model line-up is set to be renewed with the addition of the 875cc turbocharged TwinAir engine, which produces 63kW and 145Nm while claiming a 3.6l/100km fuel use figure and an 11 second "sprint" to 100km/h.
The engine uses Fiat's "MultiAir" electro-hydraulic valve management system and cutting-edge internal engine technology for better gas flows and reduced friction.
"The 500 1.4 engine will gradually be phased out and replaced with the Twin Air engine, we're going to try to bring it in at an aggressive pricepoint to get people in to drive it," Mr Zaitzev says.
The 500 TwinAir will rival hybrids for economy and Mr Zaitzev believes the driving experience will appeal to Australian buyers.
"I'm hoping the TwinAir will appeal to a new group of customers, it's something to give it a bit more life, this new engine performs almost as fast as the 1.4, and in-gear it's better - in terms of driveability it will appeal to more people," he says.
The other side of the brand's business in Australia is where the bulk of the sales volume lay for 2012 - the light-commercial Ducato van was up 4.2 per cent compared to 2010.
"We will continue to focus on Ducato - Scudo has been useful particularly for the retail network, but the Ducato's ability to be transformed for things like motorhomes, that's strong and we want to build on that," he says.
