Tata to become entry level brand-Fiat premium

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by safari_lover

I have one question here..
does this mean Tata will stop designing and developing better engines and cars of its own? Will Tata Motors as an individual company not exist anymore (in passenger cars tat is)? What would be the difference between companies like Maruti and TaMo then (Indian manufacturers but with no Indian technology)?

No buddy. Tatas are clever people. They have never relied overtly on any outside support ever. Even now they are developing engines, some of them in-house and others with external assistance. Indica has a Dicor engine ready for it. And yet TAMO is preparing for the next innings. The so called V3. For this bigger and better car they are developing the Dicor engine with the help of the Fiat people. It will be cutting edge and yet it will be a Dicor and not the JTD as it is (like some other manufacturers are doing).

Do not worry. Tatas assimilate and internalize what they learn, very fast. The future Tata engines have the potential to be a generation ahead of what they would have been without any outside support. However they will be Tata engines unlike some other indian manufacturers who can not make their own engines even after years of manufacturing cars.

[RX135]

And you are asking about cutting the crap? Why don't you make the beginning mate? It was a discussion, and a very civilized one at that till some of you unnecessarily dragged the whole thing into the same quadrant zero all over again.

I suggest, you read your original post again. You said "you Fiat fan boys..." which clearly means all Fiat fans. So, you are happily generalizing your statement with all Fiat fans. Editing the quote later doesn't mean anything. (I can clearly see that you changed it from "Fiat Fan boys" to "some of you").

Moreover, the guy you had concern with spadival drives a Maruti Baleno.

Originally Posted by Zappo

And I quote you "So, please stop associating anything, that is bad, with Fiat."... Where did you get that from? Stop dropping these bombastic one liners over and over without the need. They have started sounding like broken records. In a discussion on the strategy of Tata-Fiat combine where did you see any bad and good and its association to Fiat? Please do not bring in unnecessary things into every thread and spoil things.

You are the one, who started it in first place and now you want to run away from it. I have clearly reason to say what I said.

And talking of broken records, there are quite a few other broken records flying around such as Fiat will close down in 2005/6/7/8 and how pathetic is its a/s/s.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by RX135

I suggest, you read your original post again. You said "you Fiat fan boys..." which clearly means all Fiat fans. So, you are happily generalizing your statement with all Fiat fans. Editing the quote later doesn't mean anything. (I can clearly see that you changed it from "Fiat Fan boys" to "some of you").

Moreover, the guy you had concern with spadival drives a Maruti Baleno.


You are the one, who started it in first place and now you want to run away from it. I have clearly reason to say what I said.

And talking of broken records, there are quite a few other broken records flying around such as Fiat will close down in 2005/6/7/8 and how pathetic is its a/s/s.

No, Fanboys are not the same as Fans. Now its for you to decide whether you consider yourself a Fan or a Fanboy. Its the fanboys who are a problem.

And what did I start with by the way? Go and read all the threads. Till one of you did not start with the blame game as always it was a pretty well mannered discussion. And I do not run away from anything. I do not need to. Just insinuating and attacking others does not prove a point RX. It only shows your desperation.

And please do not add oil in the fire unnecessarily and hijack this thread. Things are now rolling on pretty well here. If you have an issue please PM me.

[RX135]

The guy, you took exception to, drives a Baleno. Where does Fiat fan boys come in picture? He had a valid point to make, which he made. So, why did this blame game start?

I don't think there was absolutely anything worthwhile in this topic for Fiat fans to become desperate or whatever, but then once you put on tints, everything will appear in same color.

Anyway, I'll leave it here.

[speedzak]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Sorry Zakko, I don't concur with you!

Ofcourse! That was never expected boss.

Originally Posted by finneyp

I need that FIAT badge on my Car!
Bcoz I can show the folks that same Fiat badge on a Ferrari!

Do you also happen to own an Acer computer with an AMD processor. No, just in case you can also show the folks... I don't think you would buy that just for show.
Ok, the car maybe a different case? Yes, maybe it can be just bought because......... of the logo on Ferrari.

Some dont really fall in love with badges just because it is there on a Ferrari. Ok, I don't. (Can we have an I DONT RULE smiley please!).

I sincerely hope (and pray) a TATA car is never badged as Fiat here.

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by Zappo

No, Fanboys are not the same as Fans. Now its for you to decide whether you consider yourself a Fan or a Fanboy.

Maybe, you should request Oxford Publishers to include the word 'Fanboy' in thier next edition of Oxford Dictionary. Here is what I understand:

Fanboys : Fans who are boys.
Fans : Include both boys and girls!

[Technocrat]

Can Some Mod do the cleaning bit for an otherwise healthy discussion

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by speedzak

I sincerely hope (and pray) a TATA car is never badged as Fiat here.

Even I sincerely hope and pray that a Fiat Car is never badged as Tata!

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Maybe, you should request Oxford Publishers to include the word 'Fanboy' in thier next edition of Oxford Dictionary. Here is what I understand:

Fanboys : Fans who are boys.
Fans : Include both boys and girls!

I would say your understanding of english is limited. Just for your help I am providing you two links... get started with these for the time being.

Fanboy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Urban Dictionary: fanboy

And now could we please get back to the discussion on this thread? Why are we getting into these offtopic discussions all over again?

[RX135]

Originally Posted by Zappo

No buddy. Tatas are clever people. They have never relied overtly on any outside support ever. Even now they are developing engines, some of them in-house and others with external assistance. Indica has a Dicor engine ready for it.

This is partially true.

Tatas do many things in-house, including crash testing of their cars, though the results are not published outside. For engines, they have taken taken lot of help from LMM. I have a friend who is working on engine development since last 6-7 years and used to visit LMM frequently. They sure do lot of engine testing in-house though, if not completely design the engine.

[merve_extreme]

someone please close this non-sense thing that is going on.you guys are fighting over English vocabulary in a automotive forum.Unbelievable.

[swathyd]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

The Safari may be badged Fiat in some markets. We do know that the new Telcoline will be assembled in Fiat's factory in Cordoba, Argentina and sold as a Fiat pickup with the 2.2 Dicor engine initially and later with the revised 3.0 Dicor - its only logical that the new Safari (as and when it comes out) will be badged Fiat and sold in those markets too.

Fiat has some brand image in s.america, by badging tata as fiat they tend to loose it.

[deep_bang]

I look at this as good news to both Fiat and Tata. Well, Palio Stile is not doing that great. Fiat does not have any new models to get here. Linea is expected but it is a premium model and will not sell in numbers.

Now, Fiat does not really have many options. With this setup, Fiat can hope to get some brand image building for a few years. Tata on the other hand has all the VFM name, but needs quality. If tata can leverage and learn from Fiat in building cars, Tata will surely improve by leaps and bounds.

Many think Tata would gain and Fiat would lose, but just think of it, Tata has faced problems because if its refinement, but not design. If they improve refinement, they suddenly have a great car. Fiat can sell this car in other countries too - well, if fiat can improve the interiors and the refinement to some extent, i would say it is as good as a fiat. In that case, Fiat is using its investment here to sustain, slowly build their brand image, and possibly a long term export hub.

[spadival]

The Ranjangaon plant is a joint venture with Tata in the process of investing50%. It will produce both Fiat and Tata cars and Fiat Powertrains.

So Tata has as much to lose on its investments as does Fiat. Besides, Fiat does not have to invest anything on the dealer side. Its only investment is the physical plant which is an asset that can be sold. So overall, its more of a 60-40 Joint venture between Tata and Fiat.

If Ratan Tata is serious enough to invest in the plant itself, then the relationship has to be a win-win or a lose-lose one.. unlike some of the suggestions on this thread that Tata will take advantage of Fiat and scoot.

[amit]

OD reports that the Linea will be launched with the revolutionary Fiat-Microsoft's Blue & Me telematics system.

The voice-activated system, the complete integration of steering wheel control buttons and information on the dashboard display will allow users to utilize any Bluetooth-based mobile phone - even if it is in a pocket or handbag - without removing hands from the steering wheel.

Thanks to a modern voice-recognition system, no preliminary voice training is needed, and even incoming SMS messages are read aloud to the driver.

Among audio functions, it is possible to listen to music stored on a mobile phone, in the newest smart phones, and in MP3 readers or USB removable sticks. All this thanks to a USB port, in the glove box, which enables the connection to any digital device with the correspondent port.

Fiat-Micrsosoft's Blue and ME.

Sounds interesting and they have to provide all these toys if they want to be a premium brand. It will be great to have this stuff in India so soon after it's international debut. Fiat can hit a home run if they actually bring this in. All this, of course, is assuming OD got their facts right.