Fiat Caffe & Fiat Punto Sport Launched in Pune

[moralfibre]

Fiat Caffe is the long awaited second Fiat exclusive showroom in Pune. This is the second Caffe launched in India after Delhi and that makes India the only country to have two Caffes. The launch of the Delhi Caffe was done on 10 Jan'12 and has been covered in this thread. (Fiat Caffe site :-) - EDIT: Now open in Delhi!) There are a total of 12 Fiat Caffes around the world.



Highlights:

• Fiat Exclusive showroom to display Fiat products and serve coffee in partnership with Lavazza.
• Comes at a time when Fiat is revving away from Tata. Related thread : (Fiat revvs away from Tata dealerships. To set up its own distribution network)
• Fiat Caffes are franchised. The one in Pune is owned by Millennium mobility who happens to be a Tata dealer (Formerly Maruti Suzuki and Mercedes).
• Aimed at showing customers the Italian way of life.
• Located in the upmarket area of Pune - Koregaon Park.
• Customers can avail test drives et al just like any other showroom.
• Neatly designed showroom.
• Customers can also purchase Fiat merchandise at the Caffe.
• Adequate showroom space to display three cars.
• Millennium will also take care of Fiat service through its exclusive Fiat service station.

Fiat India also took this opportunity to announce the launch of the Fiat Grande Punto 90 HP Sports edition. Essentially the same old Grande Punto 90 HP with a few cosmetics:

• Priced at 7.36 lakhs ex-showroom New Delhi, 7.58 ex-showroom Mumbai and 7.36 ex-showroom Pune.
• Available in three colours: Bossa Nova White, Exotica Red and Hip Hop Black.
• Chrome door handles.
• Sporty pedals including the dead pedal.
• Black & White cars adorn Red Decals, while the Red car sports Black decals.
• Chrome tipped exhaust.
• Red stitching on the seats and gear knob.
• Chrome strip across the dashboard and around the gear knob mount.
• Surprisingly, the brochure continues to say "Sales, service and spares by Tata motors".

[moralfibre]

Three colours of the Punto that are available with the associated decals:
(Fit and finish was a tad disappointing as before to say the least).









Merchandise neatly displayed:





Caffe' section on level 1:

[moralfibre]

The interior trim of the Punto Sports Limited edition (as much as I could click in poor light):







Mr. Enrico Atanasio Head - Commercial, Fiat India Automobiles limited was present at the occasion. Enrico mentioned that Fiat Spa would soon be launching a fully owned company headed by him to take care of sales and service of Fiat products in India. As of now the details are yet to be finalized and they'll formally announce details in due time.

[1100D]

For any Fiat enthusiast the launch of any Fiat product with the "sport" moniker is always special.

However this one seems to be limited to the decals and small cosmetic stuff. Apart from bringing back the 90bhp VGT Punto in its 2012 guise, which was due.

Would have loved the "sport" tag to be reserved for a T-jet Punto

Link to the Autocar article

Fiat launches Punto Sport, opens new showroom in Pune - News - Autocar India

Here's the link to the particular model. Available in 3 shades Exotica red, Bossa Nova White and Hip Hop Black.

http://www.fiat-india.com/Punto-spor...aspx?ModelId=8

Mods: Please merge with an existing thread (if any), could not find one.

[himanshukalia]

Bossa Nova White looks great. It reminds me of the abrath version.

[~~h]

No, that is not going to bring any new customer to the showroom.. Nah

Thanks for sharing.

[1100D]

Originally Posted by himanshukalia

Bossa Nova White looks great. It reminds me of the abrath version.

Agree, but with the Black alloys. Infact the linea alloys can be painted to look quite similar. However like the decals here.

Originally Posted by ~~h

No, that is not going to bring any new customer to the showroom.. Nah

Thanks for sharing.

This might actually. If not in hordes, atleast some will express interest. The forum has reports where the 90bhp Punto is known to open up after the initial few thousand km's.

Infact, would like Fiat to only offer this version of "Punto diesel" rather than let the customer have the choice of the FGT. Why? Because they already have the same hardware in the Linea and if this is standardised, Fiat could actually be saving some money on both models.

[amtak]

I am already planning to visit the Caffee to grab some nice Fiat goodies next month. Wish they could sell it online too!

[Daewood]

Atleast in the Sport variant they should have provided 16inch wheels. In the rear shot of the Black Punto the wheel-well looks pathetic.
Reminds me of the large Innova and it's puny wheels.

[kaiserketkar]

now suddenly things have started falling into place!
this fiat caffe right across the street from me, has been under construction for almost a year, that is they put up the fiat sign up and continued interior work for that many months. and i was wondering why fiat would come up with a cafeteria!
suddenly in the past couple of weeks, their split up from tata is official, and they open up the caffe immediately after!

what i like about it is that finally i got a place to go to have coffee every once in a while, and drool over italian beauties!

[W.A.G.7]

Originally Posted by Daewood

In the rear shot of the Black Punto the wheel-well looks pathetic.

Not to mention, but the chrome tipped exhaust sticks out like a sore thumb in the black Punto photo !!

When I read the title Punto Sport launched, I opened the thread with great expectations. I thought some new Punto edition has been launched with the power output > 100bhp. But no. Only cosmetic changes and a few stickers here and there. The idea of swapping coloured ORVMS didn't really appeal to me.

C'mon, they had a nice opportunity to launch a hot hatch. Again wasted. I am so disappointed, I had real expectations from Fiat about launching a super looking hot hatch.

[raj_5004]

FIAT is going in the right direction IMO.

* People wanted a high performance petrol engine.
> FIAT launched the Linea T-Jet (which barely sell).

* Some wanted Linea's 90hp diesel engine in the Punto.
> Fiat launched the Punto 90hp (which barely sell).

* Some complained that the AC in petrol Punto is weak.
> FIAT updated the AC and offered all owners free updates.

* Some complained that the front of the Punto and Linea scrapes everywhere.
> FIAT increased the GC in both their cars.

* People wanted FIAT to setup its own showrooms.
> FIAT opened Caffes which serve the purpose of showrooms.

* People wanted FIAT to setup its own A.S.S.
> FIAT has announced that it will be doing that soon.

I am a FIAT owner and I am very happy that FIAT is not ignoring us, like I thought they would.

Regarding the Punto "sports", the less said the better...

[autotranny]

I don't see Fiat managing to make any headway into the Indian market without offering something out of the ordinary.

So then, how about a diesel Auto Transmission, in Punto or Linea. Thats one segment where the Maruti and Hyundai have left open a small gap. Mr. Enrico Atanasio, please make your move fast. Its not too tough for your company as you are already offering it in Brazil ( I think from the pic that its a triptronic) . Checkout Fiat Punto 2012 | Motor e-torq: ecológico, econômico, potente, silencioso

[Turbokick]

Originally Posted by raj_5004

FIAT is going in the right direction IMO.

* People wanted a high performance petrol engine.
> FIAT launched the Linea T-Jet (which barely sell).

* Some wanted Linea's 90hp diesel engine in the Punto.
> Fiat launched the Punto 90hp (which barely sell).

* Some complained that the AC in petrol Punto is weak.
> FIAT updated the AC and offered all owners free updates.

* Some complained that the front of the Punto and Linea scrapes everywhere.
> FIAT increased the GC in both their cars.

* People wanted FIAT to setup its own showrooms.
> FIAT opened Caffes which serve the purpose of showrooms.

* People wanted FIAT to setup its own A.S.S.
> FIAT has announced that it will be doing that soon.

I am a FIAT owner and I am very happy that FIAT is not ignoring us, like I thought they would.

Regarding the Punto "sports", the less said the better...

Very well said !
Fiat indeed is trying very hard and efforts has been honest.
Hope some smart work and good luck prevails.
Fiat is listening to its customers.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by raj_5004

FIAT is going in the right direction IMO.

* People wanted a high performance petrol engine.
> FIAT launched the Linea T-Jet (which barely sell).

* Some wanted Linea's 90hp diesel engine in the Punto.
> Fiat launched the Punto 90hp (which barely sell).

* Some complained that the AC in petrol Punto is weak.
> FIAT updated the AC and offered all owners free updates.

* Some complained that the front of the Punto and Linea scrapes everywhere.
> FIAT increased the GC in both their cars.

* People wanted FIAT to setup its own showrooms.
> FIAT opened Caffes which serve the purpose of showrooms.

* People wanted FIAT to setup its own A.S.S.
> FIAT has announced that it will be doing that soon.

I am a FIAT owner and I am very happy that FIAT is not ignoring us, like I thought they would.

Regarding the Punto "sports", the less said the better...

Nice. I have written elsewhere, but would like to repeat. People here in TBHP complain about how under-powered the FIATs are, how bad the plastic quality is, how cramped the interiors are, at the end of the day buy Swift Dzires.

FIAT is trying to target the wrong crowd. The average joe wants cheap, fuel efficient cars. An average Joe would rather play safe and buy a Maruti than a FIAT. The general Indian public loves mediocrity, and no manufacturers can beat Maruti in that.

FIAT should rather do some soul-searching. They sould identify their strong points and target those customers who are willing to buy FIATs. Remember what happened to Yamaha? After trying to play the volume game (catch up with Hero Honda) with Cruxes and Liberos and Enticers, they finally got back to what they do best: Making performance bikes for the young crowd.