Can the Palio Sedan make a comeback?

[Mpower]

Fiat already tried twice. First it was called the Sienna then it came as the Petra. Both flopped miserably even though I thought the diesel version was a great buy at the time. Both the 1.7TD and the 1.9NAD were good VFM products at the prices they were offered vs the competition.
Now the new avtar on sale in Mercosur has the new Fiat corporate front look with more contemporary dash and the 1.3 Multijet engine. Methinks this is the right time to get this into India as soon as Linea does its job if brand building.

Its almost a criminal waste to have a plant churning out the hatchback but not the sedan version. It costs only a little more to make the sedan but they can charge a lot more for it and build their profits.
Things FIAT can do to get it right this time

• Competitive pricing
• Make sure they use the new dash and not the Stile one.
• Offer both LPG and CNG version of the 1.6 petrol. Big boot will come in handy for this.
• Offer the 1.3D in 75 bhp form to differentiate from the Linea
• Go head to head with Logan while offering better features.

Come on FIAT, dont give up. Lets see if you are third time lucky. Check out this Alfa inspired rear. She's a beauty.

[a.ashokdurai]

Wow.. Welcome back My love....

Hope the fiat guys do it right at least this time.i find them going wrong with timeline and price factor.
cheers:

[aaggoswami]

I agree with you that they were very good packages. My father was very keen on buying Petra in Oct '05, petrol or diesel. But the fear of A.S. & S. kept him away from buying this car along with the availability of spares and cost. He liked the car and felt it was better than most of the car till Corolla segment.

I dont think that Fiat will have luck this time also. India is a very, very unique market. Here owning and maintaining a car is not as easy as lets say in USA. Here if once they get things wrong, people wont trust them with their money. Fiat has got the best products for India, but now they are too late.


A few more points.
1) Only pricing cannot get the things right. They have to first improve image and this will take a very long time. Moreover, the tie up with Tata has helped, but it has to get better and smoother.

2) New interiors are welcome, but then present Indigo/next gen Indigo and Logan have more space and almost as good inteirors. People will prefer these two cars over Siena.

3) LPG and CNG availability is an issue and people will gun for diesel. Palio sales are now better thanks to MJD.

4) Logan is much more spacious, so it is better VFM package and has three engine options. Diesel is the preferred one and it has better image than Siena/Fiat.


In all, rather than reviving an old car, they must bring in the Linea fast with a proper 1.3JTD in 90 bhp, 1.6 JTD and 1.9 JTD ( yes three diesel engine options ) With the 1.9, Jetta, Laura will be history if this car is marketed properly and priced upto Rs. 10 lakh. Can take the fight to G3HC also. IMHO, the Fiat 178 platform is now getting old and there is no point in extending the life span. Bring in a new one.

[karanraheja]

Well i think Fiat should first think of Linea , GP and Facelift Palio launch. Get the marketing and improve the A**, offer competitive pricing & Voila they could just get back on track. One big question is what will they name their sedan after Siena and Petra flopped! Also will Fiat launch this & compete with Tata Indigo itself???

[snaronikar]

The car looks stunning. If they plan to bring this model, then it would be a hit provided they have to penetrate with the perfect pricing clubbed with good A**. Spares cost of some parts has to be more cheaper. Otherwise, it may be another flop.

[amit]

IMO, the Palio brand is dead. There is no point investing and pouring money into trying to revive the Palio and it's derivatives. Also, a Palio parked next to the GP or Linea in the showrooms could actually scare away a few customers!

If I was in charge of Fiat India, I would launch the Linea and GP. Once these cars have established themselves, the Palio would be discontinued somewhere around April 2009. Then get down into launching the all new Palio within 24 months. Sometime in 2011, launch the all new Palio but badge is as the Panda or Idea.

The only problem is the entry point into the Fiat brand would be the Grande Punto which is a B+ segment car. The ideal set up would be to have the first time car buyer buy the Palio and then have him upgrade to the GP and the Linea. Unfortunately, for Fiat, their entry point car's image is in shambles and beyond redemption.

[condor]

The Petra still makes me turn around and watch it go by. Had it been around today, would have definitely picked it up. Sad that Fiat has not yet able to get it's India act right - but really wish they do.

[phamilyman]

My god. Can't believe what antiquated stuff they are selling here still!!

[deepakhon]

I would rather want the Brazilian Adventure stuff being sold in India. At least, that will not compete with any Tata car. I hope Tata itself is not expecting too much on Indigo Marina.

May be, they should take some interior elements of Punto and Linea and plonk it here, just for the economy of scale. Or better still, they should develop the Adventure platform based on Punto.

[amtak]

Wonderful car! But I doubt Fiat will launch it here now. The interiors are great as compared to current palio.

[finneyp]

I agree with Amit!

We had enough of Palio, though it could remain as entry-level hatch!

We now need new models like G Punto, Linea to do the talking!

[Palio_2005]

I don't think Tata would ever get this car. That would mean the end of Indigo and I am sure they don't wan't that as they have planned a sedan version of Vista.

Fiat is dead in India.

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by Palio_2005

Fiat is dead in India.

When? How?

Pls avoid making such blanket statements!
Can't digest it is coming from a Palio owner with a Palio nick!

With news models like Linea, G Punto etc in pipeline, what makes you think so?
Also Fiat Tata A.S.S is much better now compared to say 2 years back!

[da_lowrider]

The only foreseeable way this car can come to India is:

The current Indigo is stopped completely, apart from the CS models.

The sedan variant of the Vista moves into a segment higher than then the current Indigo, due to virtues like increased space, better interiors etc.

This car comes in to the space vacated by the current Indigo and goes head-on against the Dzire, even then it would require an inspired effort from Tata-Fiat to make it succeed thanks to the Fiat brand baggage.

This though is only my opinion, I could be completely wrong though.

[Palio_2005]

When? How?

Pls avoid making such blanket statements!
Can't digest it is coming from a Palio owner with a Palio nick!

With news models like Linea, G Punto etc in pipeline, what makes you think so?
Also Fiat Tata A.S.S is much better now compared to say 2 years back!

I do appreciate your passion for Fiat. Beleive me I too share your passion, else I would not have purchased a Palio even when the plant was under shut down due to floods in Mumbai. I still love my car and wouldn't exchange it for any other.

But we have to live in a world with our eyes open. Fiat dug it's grave the day it handed over it's sales and marketing to Tata. Can you in your right mind expect a rival car maker with similar line up to do justice to your product line up.

Tata's have joined hands so that they can get the best technology from Fiat which Tata is incapable of. Vista is a good example. This car has been launched with the same engine and that too in the same price bracket.

Look at what is happening to Linea and GP. There's no information of the launch, no news. Fiat has no say in all this as the entire sales and marketing is handled by Tata's now.

As to *** less said the better. You are a member of the Palio Users Group and you know what's happening there. Spares are still a problem. The mechanics are clueless about servicing Fiat cars. I shudder to think when these same guys would be servicing cars like GP/Linea and 500.