G Punto @ 5Lacs, Linea @ 6.5Lacs, Shock Pricing

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by amit

Assuming you meant that in the Indian context and the year is 2008, Fiat was busy in finalising the deal with Tata Motors, then they sold off their Mumbai plant and went about building their new plant in Ranjangaon from scratch. Besides that they also launched the Palio Stile and started production of the Multijet engine in India.

Yes, I was speaking with Indian Context. I meant that GP ( Grande Punto ) was available since end of 2005 in Euroopean markets, and we are nearing end of 2008.
The 1248cc engine was chosen as 2005 International Engine of the year in 1.0 to 1.4 ltr range. Its Fiat's own engnie, and in India the same engine debuted in Swift. What was Fiat doing till then ?
They should have brought 1.3 SDE earlier and this should have been planned such that the plant starts chruning out Fiat Palio ( irrespective of Stile or not ) with 1.3 ltr engine. But what happened is quite different. Tata-Fiat went to Suzuki to source 1.3 diesel. Suzuki of course refused and this was not liked by Fiat. So the production of this engine was not well planned.

Whatever it be, one thing is sure : Fiat is losing customers and even worst, they are losing goodwill in a market where goodwill is very important.

[amit]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

The 1248cc engine is Fiat's own engnie, and in India the same engine debuted in Swift. What was Fiat doing till then ?

Building their new plant in Ranjangaon which includes a engine and transmission manufacturing facility. This new plant, as we are all well aware of, is just nearing completion now.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by amit

Building their new plant in Ranjangaon which includes a engine and transmission manufacturing facility. This new plant, as we are all well aware of, is just nearing completion now.

Sir, I thought that Palio Stile is made at this facality.

Source : Fiat's new beginning at Ranjangaon

Article:

The launch of the Fiat Stile at Ranjangaon in early April is a significant step in the collaboration between Tata Motors and Fiat, both of which first announced a MoU way back in September 2005.

Then after both partners announced a dealer-sharing initiative at the Auto Expo last year that involved 28 dealers including just three Fiat dealers who would retail both Tata-branded and Fiat branded cars.

Last July, both partners announced that an investment of Rs 4,000 crore would be made at Ranjangaon, a facility that Fiat India was only using for dealer training purposes. Fiat's facility in central Mumbai has since been shut, an estimated 700 workers accepted a VRS and for the company, whose chequered history in India began with the Premier Padmini, under the aegis of Premier Automobiles and later the launch of world car Palio, this marks an important phase. The 50-50 joint venture was announced last December to manufacture both passenger cars and engines.

The Palio Stile is the maiden offering from Fiat since the company teamed up with Tata Motors and will be the third product to be launched at the joint dealerships which had been earlier retailing the Palio and the Adventure Sports.

The Stile comes in two engine options - 1.1 litres and 1.6 litres, both petrol-powered that will retail at Rs 3.49 lakh and Rs 4.31 lakh, ex-showroom, Delhi. It will compete with the key B segment players such as the Santro, Indica and the Wagon R, all hatchbacks that have been able to carve out significant marketshares. At present, he local content in the Stile is 70 percent, and is likely to go up eventually, said Managing Director, Fiat India Automobiles, Giovanni de Filippis.

Speaking to Auto Monitor, Director, Sales Extra Europe & Importers, Fiat Group, Massimo Farao explained that, " With Tata Motors as the partner, we will be using the best of Tata and the best of Fiat on the Indian market. We will launch the Grande Punto that has been a great success story in Western Europe and the Fiat Linea that has been introduced in Istanbul few months ago.' Fiat plans to launch the Grande Punto by mid-2008.

Greenfield site

The Ranjangaon facility, which marks the first chapter of a momentous joint venture between Fiat and Tata Motors will produce around 100,000 cars from Tata Motors and Fiat and 200,000 powertrains.. The cars would be sold through 63 Tata-Fiat dealership covering 42 cities.

'The Tata-Fiat alliance has to be seen in holistic manner, as this is just one part of the whole picture that is going to emerge,' said Managing Director, Tata Motors, Ravi Kant said during the inauguration of Tata-Fiat facility. Senior Vice President Manufacturing, Fiat Group, Stephen Ketter, who was also present on the occasion, said the two manufacturers are looking at various opportunities in cars and powertrains and that new facility would play a crucial role in the overall gameplan. The decision to shift company's production facility from Kurla to Ranjangaon is based on the objective of achieving cost efficiencies, he added.

The Tata-Fiat facility would also spawn vendor development in Ranjangaon, which so far has remained underutilised with a token presence of few auto component manufacturers. The facility would pave way not only for domestic component manufacturers but also several big Italian manufacturers. Reportedly, in the past few months, several MoUs have been signed between the Italian companies and the Maharashtra government.

Access to technology

While for Fiat it means reviving the India fortunes, through the after and distribution network of Tata Motors, the JV will give Tata Motors access to world's best powertrain technology and thereby improvement in the quality of its passenger car offerings offerings.

Analysts feel with the introduction of the Logan from Mahindra-Renault, which has been competitively priced at Rs 4,27,950 (ex-showroom, Mumbai) and positioned as a wide-bodied car in the upper B and lower C segment could impact the Indigo. Tata Motors has begun working on new platforms for its current range and it is plausible to assume that it would tap Fiat experience in this regard. In the light of the increasing competition in the B and C segment, which is growing at the rate of 17 percent and accounts for 78,000 units of the total cars sold, synergies between both players will be leveraged.

The Tata-Fiat alliance will also open up new vistas for Fiat's powertrain business. Fiat's powertrain business was given a fillip in 2005 when Fiat Auto SpA, with a view to capitalise on one of its crucial advantages in the European market, brought its vast array of passenger and commercial-vehicle powertrain units under one roof - Fiat Powertrain Technologies.

The objective of the restructuring was to sell Fiat's powertrain systems to other automakers throughout the world and build revenue.

The new unit will focus on the diesel engine business, which has been growing at a much faster pace than the overall new car sales. At a time when most of the carmakers in India are pursuing the diesel agenda aggressively, a powertrain facility will play a crucial role.

Whether the Tata-Fiat alliance would catapult Tata Motors and Fiat's position in the Indian car market remains to be seen as the devil lies in the fine print. What would be interesting to watch out is how the two partners brings leverage upon the synergies and complement each other in core areas such as design, engineering, sales, distribution, etc.

One more news article:

Earlier in 2006, Fiat had stopped its operations at Kurla and had shifted the production of Palio to the Ranjangaon facility. The company had earlier also shut down the Kurla plant for six months after suffering losses soon after heavy rains lashed across Mumbai. The Ranjangaon facility has been set up at an investment of Rs 4,000 crore. Fiat had kicked off operations at this facility in February 2007.

The sell off executed by Fiat has been in line with its strategy to restructure and consolidate its operations in India. Fiat plans to transform its production facilities and focus on launching new models in the country.

Source: Fiat sells off Kurla property, shifts production to Ranjangaon, Pune

2) Even if the facality is not running, Fiat could have imported the engine and fitted it in Palio. Peugeot TuD5 was imported by Maruti. If Maruti can do this, Fiat should be ahead here.

[amit]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Sir, I thought that Palio Stile is made at this facality.

Yes it is but the plant isn't working at full steam. Even the Indica Vista is being manufactured there. Sure, Fiat isn't interested in making and selling cars but Tata is. What's stopping the Vista then? Besides, why do we keep talking about the plant? What about dealerships? Are they ready to sell and service the Linea? I read somewhere that Tata-Fiat want to distinguish their dealerships, Tata ones will get the blue treatment and Fiat ones will get the premium European red colour treatment (their words not mine!). I don't see any dealerships being done up like that so far but thats what I read in some mag. What about servicablity and spares avaliablity? Maybe Fiat, or rather, Tata is perfecting these parameters so that the past is not repeated.

Fiat could have imported the engine and fitted it in Palio.

What about cost? Would we pay Fabia prices for the Palio? Fiat could have launched the GP and Linea in 2007 with largely imported content too. Would we pay Optra SR-V and Accord prices for the GP and Linea? We would then be flaming Fiat for losing a fantastic oppurtunity and cursing them for not being committed to the Indian market.

[amit]

Latest ACI reports that the Grande Punto will be launched in May 2009!

[lurker]

Originally Posted by amit

Latest ACI reports that the Grande Punto will be launched in May 2009!

so we need to wait till May ..


.. to be shocked by the pricing.

[joslicx]

dont worry people. it will be dumped in our country once it is too old for Europe!
lets wait a couple more years

[finneyp]

The delay for G Punto is obvious since Fiat India is presently preoccupied with the launch of Linea!

[amit]

Before we start flaming Fiat, do remember that the date is mentioned in ACI. How accurate the launch date is will be clear soon because they mention the A-Star launch in November 2008.

I don't understand why the GP should take another 8 months to get launched here. The report says the bumpers will be re-worked to bring the GP into the excise benefit bracket. We have been hearing about the bumpers thing for 2 years now!

The Linea and Bravo will be launched in January 2009 is what ACI believes. No mention of the T-Jet and 1.6MJD in the Linea.

I think Fiat is thinking that if the Linea is murdered by them like they did to the Palio, then they will have another product to again revive their fortunes in India so thats why they want to hold the GP back until May 2009

They also mention that the Accord will come with the 2.2 I-CDTi 148bhp engine in Mid-2009

[ahuja365]

If fiat wants to succeed it must start launching the punto and linea as soon as possible with killer pricing and stop thinking about the bravo as a cbu.

[speedzak]

Dates mentioned by car magazines hardly matches with reality.
I will only take ACI reports with a truckload of salt!

[bhagathgowda]

Linea out in Dec 08 as per fiat india's own website

[speedzak]

The fake FiAT website or the genuine one?
The information spread thru the fake one is just assumptions and nothing else. Has FiAT done anything to prevent that?

[k_ajay]

Originally Posted by speedzak

The fake FiAT website or the genuine one?
The information spread thru the fake one is just assumptions and nothing else. Has FiAT done anything to prevent that?

Hi. Bhagath was referring to Fiat's genuine website, which is Fiat India, where they have posted the month of the genuine launch of Fiat Linea..

May we know which in genuine website have you been looking at for your reference?

And Fiat don't need to do anything to prevent assumptions on any fake website you're [or anyone else is] looking at.. Informed people will naturally seek and go to Fiat India's 'genuine' website.

Cheers..

[backrub]

When is Fiat going to launch any of this? I hope the GP be launched first. Will be a refreshing sight between all those swifts we have been seeing. Nowadays it has just become like, all around you look you can see a swift