An Impromptu Interview with Mr. Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India

[.anshuman]

Looks like fiat is making efforts to change people's perception but lets see if they deliver what they promise,only time will tell.

[tanwaramit]

very nice job with the interview, good questions, honest answers. Well majority of them can be seen with the way Fiat is working in India. launching new products, linea well before Punto, tie up with Tata. I had read press announcement of no Bravo launch.

Over all very good job with the interview.

Fiat, its a tough task for you, but you have the will and you will succeed.

Skoda, take a lesson, or you will not get time to get back.

[schitre05]

Originally Posted by madan80

i had a call the other day from the very same showroom - tafe- and was asking about the "new car" that was launched.

I asked the sales lady if the car had ABS - and she was like - sorry - no punto has ABS. then I told her I would come by on the weekend to check it out.

A few minutes later she called back saying that yes, the car does have ABS and that there was a "printing issue" - hence the incorrect information was given the last time over.

so much for training! :(

Honestly i have stopped asking such questions to the sales guys assuming that they might not have the correct answer to my questions. Last time i asked a question to a MS sales guys about at what rpm does the turbo kicks in swift DDIS? and he was like, sorry sir there is no turbo in this engine .
I simply said ok and walked out of the showroom, never to go back again.
So the problem is not with the product always its sometimes the way it is projected.
The machine will do its job as it is designed its only when the human factor comes in to picture the machine seems to falter.

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by madan80

I asked the sales lady if the car had ABS - and she was like - sorry - no punto has ABS. then I told her I would come by on the weekend to check it out.

A few minutes later she called back saying that yes, the car does have ABS and that there was a "printing issue" - hence the incorrect information was given the last time over.

so much for training! :(

if she called back and corrected i would say Bravo! Now - that's something that we don't see very often.

[pradster]

Should have also asked him if they are going to tidy up their advertising efforts. Fantastic products like the punto and the linea and yet so little media visibility!
Laying so low ought to be a crime!

[MileCruncher]

This is really an appreciable step from FIAT and shows that they are serious about India in their overall global plan and in TATA they have an able partner.
Hope FIAT does well and while doing so, doesn't forget the enthusiasts who have sustained it for so long .

[sanagg1]

This is great to have impromptu interview with FIAT-CEO.
In fact the content of interview is richer than those appearing in professional media like national dailies, channel shows etc.Hats off to shiram. Someone once said "if you get the job in a profession you love, you don't have to work another day". How true we at T-bhp are doing better than paid mediaperson and feeling exhilarated. love you guys
cheers

[sriramv.iyer]

Guys, thanks a lot! I am really glad that you all liked the transcript - Some of you have even been suggesting that I consider it an alternate career - I am quite happy with writing software for now. But with recession looming, we can never say

I should share the credits with Arun whom I accompanied to the showroom too - He asked a fair share of the tough questions

[nbr]

Originally Posted by sriramv.iyer

Guys, thanks a lot! I am really glad that you all liked the transcript - Some of you have even been suggesting that I consider it an alternate career - I am quite happy with writing software for now. But with recession looming, we can never say

I should share the credits with Arun whom I accompanied to the showroom too - He asked a fair share of the tough questions

I always feel FIAT would have much better if it had a tie up with some manufacturer who doesnot compete in the same category. When my neighbour was planning to got for a diesel car in Mangalore. He had Swift, Palio ,Getz and Ikon diesel variants as his option. I had advised him to go for the Palio D, but when he went for the test drive he says the TATA dealer advised him to go for the Indica Vista diesel since the production for Palio will be stopped in a few months. Now after hearing from the dealer he has now booked the Swift diesel. if the Fiat ceo is reading this, atleast we can expect some changes in the attitude of the Tata dealers

[amit]

You should have asked him when the RTO approval issue is going to get sorted out. People are not getting cars due to this ridiculously stupid reason.

[gpkmahe]

Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India and his team should have been actually kicked off from India. See India is not a place to dump their car and take the money to Italy. What they did with Fiat UNO, Palio, Petra etc they cooly cheated the Indians They Sold their products and went off What about Spare parts and after sales support ???!@@. Now after a long Gap they are again here trying to repeat the same thing, going to cheat the Indians ( A [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Camouflaged [/SIZE][/FONT]Fox ! ). Why they dont spare parts for their own Products?? Isnt it their responsibility to maintain the supply of the spare parts. Actually some one or some organisation should sue them in court for cheating indian citizens.

Sure this time they are going to cheat us in a big way ! with more costly cars!. If there intention is not this they should have re-landed india by appologising the people of india for their mistake and should have started with Selling the spare parts for their old products, there by gaining the lost faith. I am of the opionion that we are fools to belive them again...

[ph03n!x]

TAFE? Wasn't that a Hyundai showroom that was shutdown due to shady stuff? I remember reading a thread here a while ago.

Btw, nice interview. Heartening to see a CEO hopping from showroom to showroom. I would suggest that he tries calling random showrooms asking for specifics / details, send proxies to check the service, etc. It is a very very good start, and hopefully Fiat will be a torque to reckon with pretty soon

[sriramv.iyer]

Originally Posted by nbr

He had Swift, Palio ,Getz and Ikon diesel variants as his option. I had advised him to go for the Palio D, but when he went for the test drive he says the TATA dealer advised him to go for the Indica Vista diesel since the production for Palio will be stopped in a few months. Now after hearing from the dealer he has now booked the Swift diesel.

I don't know if the advise was correct - But AFAIK they've now started car specific teams in dealerships. So, if you go to a FIAT guy, he'll not advise you to pick up a Vista! A step in the right direction, I guess!

Originally Posted by gpkmahe

Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India and his team should have been actually kicked off from India. See India is not a place to dump their car and take the money to Italy. What they did with Fiat UNO, Palio, Petra etc they cooly cheated the Indians They Sold their products and went off What about Spare parts and after sales support ???!@@. Now after a long Gap they are again here trying to repeat the same thing, going to cheat the Indians .

So much malice!

I don't have a Fiat nor am I looking to buy one in the near future - But, Rajeev was pretty honest when he acknowledged that Fiat bungled up in the past, and he was doing his best to get parts for the phased out cars from throughout the world. Also, he has assured that the spare parts for the new cars would be easily available and also at a good price. If Fiat is planning to cheat and run away, why should the CEO keep running around showrooms in India?

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

TAFE? Wasn't that a Hyundai showroom that was shutdown due to shady stuff? I remember reading a thread here a while ago.

I think it was a Hyundai showroom earlier! I didn't know about the shady stuff though - Would love to hear some gossip though!

[akj53]

Originally Posted by gpkmahe

Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India and his team should have been actually kicked off from India. See India is not a place to dump their car and take the money to Italy. What they did with Fiat UNO, Palio, Petra etc they cooly cheated the Indians They Sold their products and went off What about Spare parts and after sales support ???!@@. Now after a long Gap they are again here trying to repeat the same thing, going to cheat the Indians ( A [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Camouflaged [/SIZE][/FONT]Fox ! ). Why they dont spare parts for their own Products?? Isnt it their responsibility to maintain the supply of the spare parts. Actually some one or some organisation should sue them in court for cheating indian citizens.
Sure this time they are going to cheat us in a big way ! with more costly cars!. If there intention is not this they should have re-landed india by appologising the people of india for their mistake and should have started with Selling the spare parts for their old products, there by gaining the lost faith. I am of the opionion that we are fools to belive them again...

This post is in very poor taste.

FIAT India paid for their mis management by loosing over 1000 crores in their Indian operations. So they have not run to Italy with your money.
Now if they are honestly trying to revive the company, there is nothing wrong in it. If you dont like their product or policies, dont buy their cars.

There are many other companies who are pricing their products at a very high premium and earning huge profits. Why dont you target them

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by gpkmahe

Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India and his team should have been actually kicked off from India. See India is not a place to dump their car and take the money to Italy. What they did with Fiat UNO, Palio, Petra etc they cooly cheated the Indians They Sold their products and went off What about Spare parts and after sales support ???!@@. Now after a long Gap they are again here trying to repeat the same thing, going to cheat the Indians ( A [FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Camouflaged [/SIZE][/FONT]Fox ! ). Why they dont spare parts for their own Products?? Isnt it their responsibility to maintain the supply of the spare parts. Actually some one or some organisation should sue them in court for cheating indian citizens.
Sure this time they are going to cheat us in a big way ! with more costly cars!. If there intention is not this they should have re-landed india by appologising the people of india for their mistake and should have started with Selling the spare parts for their old products, there by gaining the lost faith. I am of the opionion that we are fools to belive them again...

From your signature, I understand you have a 1.7 Uno diesel. I don't think you should have faced any problem with spares with your car as there are quite a few of them over here in India especially South India and Kerala. I have a 1.2 Petrol which is much rarer but never had too many issues with the spares bit.

May be a bit of a background to your outburst would be helpful not only to FIAT but also to others in the forum.

Cheers