Which of these shud FIAT launch

[Stratos]

Which of these hatchbacks u think, FIAT shud launch in India?

For me.. it has to be the Panda.
Some thing to tell u abt the Stilo.

Fiat had one aim in mind while making the Stilo.
" We shud provide such equipments in the Stilo today, that our competitiors wont be able to provide till tommrrow"

[v12]

Stilo. Anytime. Looks really good. But it will be too expensive.

[shravan316]

i prefer the Stilo too..

[Revvmaster]

My heart says Stilo, but my Indian mind says Panda.

The Panda makes sense for a company in the kind of turmoil it is in. I don't think it'd even come at the price of 3.5 lakhs as someone posted in another post in reference to a me-too messageboard post. 4-5 is more like it. And with that diesel coming up... i think its time Hyundai shoved a diesel in its Santro. Otherwise expect a renewed Fiat to lick its competition apart...

... provided it does EVERYTHING right this time round.

Revv

[Aditya]

If Fiat is looking at mass sales to pull it out of losses, it'll have to be the Panda.

[amit]

i would love to vote for the stilo but i made a practical decision and voted for the panda cuz the stilo wouldn't sell here even if fiat strips it of all it's techonology! btw, i read somewhere that the top end stilo with the 2.0 ltr 20 valve 190 ps engine ( hope i got the tech specs rite) with sat nav and the works sells for 20,000 euros in Europe! and yea, ppl do buy it at that price! would it sell for even half that price here? i m sure we all know the answer to that.

[ajmat]

I would go for the Panda - Stilo is presently too advanced, nothing wrong with that but Fiat electrics are suspect

[GTO]

None actually.

Fiat anyways has a product in the B segment that is far far superior to anything else offered. The fault is not in the product, its with the image. Unreturned deposits (Fiat Uno), Horrible sales experience (till date), Poor after sales service (Pre-2004), Exhorbitant prices of parts and labour (taken care of recently) and the fear of a company backing out of India (It almost happened in 2003).

For atleast the next 12 months, what Fiat need to do is focus on the company image and its dealerships, instead of bringing in new products. Look how well Skoda have managed to rebuild their image. This Czech company was absolutely down there a decade back, with horrible products and an even worse sales/service experience. It was so bad that Skoda owners bought a Skoda only coz they could not afford anything else. And then they rebuilt the company...VW that is. Not only did they bring out vastly superior products and quality levels (VW platforms), but they also focussed an equal amount of time on rebuilding their brand image and equity.

Fiat ought to chuck out 50% of their current dealerships...atleast in the metros. All the non-performers should be kicked out. Its a tough call but if they want to show their commitment to the customer, they are gonna have to clean up. Have half of the new dealerships managed by professionals such as the Sanghi Group, Auto Hangar, Concorde etc. since these are organisations that are well versed with taking good care of their customers. I.T. connected showrooms in key locations, charming and well - informed sales persons (training, training, training), Excellent service facilities...the entire mile! The other half should be company-owned retail outlets.

Dealers should be graded by how happy their customers are...not how many Palios/Petras they sell. This is the strategy of Hyundai. Instead of having two or three big dealers in a metro, they opted for 6 - 8 medium sized dealers - The reasoning being that smaller dealerships would be able to offer personalized service to Hyundai customers instead of what volume dealerships would be capable of.


At the corporate end, they must first convince their parent in Italy to consider India as a priority market. Last year, when Fiat SPa was in doldrums, it was published in the wall street that they intended to get out of India...can you then blame the Indian consumer for having no confidence? Such news spreads like wildfire. Show Fiat Italy that the B segment accounts for half of the million car market in India. Renew interest with a long term commitment.

Business faith in place, go on a massive corporate image boosting campaign. Communicate with everyone from the CEO's of top industrialists to the man on the street that Fiat is here to stay and it is doing everything it can to please the Indian customer.

No NV versions or Pandas are going to sell unless a potential customer believes in the long-term presence and a pleasant ownership experience with Fiat.

GTO

[DOHC]

Fiat already have excellent products they should get their act together in Marketing and After Sales

[ajmat]

May be an untapped business venture - go in for a Fiat dealership with a great emphasis on customer care ?

[seby_v]

I do not think only the dealers are responsible for the bad A S S.. When I talked to a manager at Sundaram workshop, Bangalore, he mentioned about the delay from FIAT side to deliver the necessary spare parts on time..

[lamborghini]

i fully agree with GTO...
fiat has to improve its brand image .......
perhaps the panda will be able to change this but only if some dealers like fortpoint etc are kicked out ........
why if fiat tries to improve its brandimage we may have a palio that outsells the santro ........

[normally_crazy]

I agree totally about fiat having to improve the image. the customers should go in with a nuetral mind not a biased mind when anyone talks about fiat.

if launching a new model could pull a company out of doldrums , i wonder where maruti should have gone ? ( they have a good rep and launch new models too )

heheh

cheers

[GTO]

Someone had just come in with a Palio to my office. Spoke cars to him.

He tells me that I was the first one to compliment his taste in cars (It was a 1.6). Otherwise these are the standard questions hes gotten immune to hearing:

1. Hey, what problems have you had with it (Not have you had any?)
2. How is the after sales service?
3. Why did you buy this?
4. The FE must be killing you.

Too bad for Fiat. Too bad for the Palio. Too bad for people who could have been with a better car.

GTO

[jesal]

heck bring all 3. let ppl decide which fiat hatch they want