[Palio_2005]

I am sure Fiat has stopped manufacturing Linea as they must be holding on to a large inventory and not selling anything. I too am a fanboy of Fiat having owned a Palio which served me well for 5 years with no complaints.

Now I have a Linea and I have had issues as under

Beadings come off
A/C not cooling
Rusting in boot portion
LHS rear power window conked off

and I don't know what else will come up.

Though I absolutely love my car and the way she handles and drives on the highway one really needs to think if these issues (worst part is that they are recurring) which will come up in any Fiat car you buy.

Sometimes I think it's just not worth it.

[neoonwheels]

Really sad to know. FIAT really needs to pull up socks and question TATA and their pathetic dealers. FIAT anyways was not famous for A** and TATA is heading them in no other direction. Can any top management be so dumb to accept the short comings and take actions? Going by sales and buyer's sales and service experience, I pray that we dont have to say RIP FIAT.

If you really like Linea, I would suggest to go and check with the other dealer and then if nothings work out in the time you expect, dump FIAT and move to other brands.

Touch wood, but in my 6.5 years of FIAT ownership, I never ever faced so trouble. Neither with the car nor with the service. BUB was anyways one of the best TATA dealers and thankfully, Pandit did a good job on my car for 2nd free service.

[sukrit7]

There's something wrong with this company. I've made numerous complaints over the last month, wrote emails and made phone calls and NO ONE from fiat has gotten back to me. It's pathetic.

[vinya_jag]

Dude, go for it. All this fight for nothing? No way. You love it, you ought to get it.
If Fiat has stopped production, then they will make one just for you.

And am sure you are aware of all the niggles and you dont care about those, so happy Lineaing.

[Trust_In_Thrust]

Agree with @vinay_jag if they stopped producing they will just make one for you.
I remember how someone who was in love with a Palio GTX (yellow color) .He went to Fiat and they made one for him .

This is something we can except only from FIAT .

[murillo]

rameshnanda,

I felt sad at the treatment meted out to even a loyal Fiat customer.

I believe this is a systemic problem with Fiat and its dealers. A few months back, one of my office colleagues planned to upgrade from his Swift. He test drove Linea, loved and booked it. Then his headache started. The dealer took much time without delivering his car. When he followed up multiple times, they told him to consider some other color. He also felt that the staff are not at all interested in selling the car. They sported a "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude. Finally, he dumped Fiat and bought another brand.

I feel Fiat is just happy selling engines. May be they just want to maintain a token presence in the passenger car industry.

Does Fiat has the engine manufacturing unit and passenger car unit as separate businesses of a parent group? Will that help Fiat to set off losses of passenger car business against profits of engine manufacturing unit? Just a speculative thought. Informed members can throw more light on this aspect.

murillo

[rameshnanda]

I didn't get any followup call yesterday after Mangesh's mail. I, then called the SA at VST Motors to see whats their update. The SA told me "By the EOD today definitely we will give you the VIN, sir. Today is month-end closing for us and we assure you to give the VIN today." (I have already heard the same kind of promise at least 1000 times before this ). As usual, I didn't get the VIN and they didn't even call me to update what actually happened.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

I didn't get any followup call yesterday after Mangesh's mail. I, then called the SA at VST Motors to see whats their update. The SA told me "By the EOD today definitely we will give you the VIN, sir. Today is month-end closing for us and we assure you to give the VIN today." (I have already heard the same kind of promise at least 1000 times before this ). As usual, I didn't get the VIN and they didn't even call me to update what actually happened.

In one word, move away from FIAT, this is torture and i can only be amazed at your patience that you are still sticking for so long. Folks who have been happy with FIAT Sales experience and Support (post sales) experience have been a rare few. This company has something seriously wrong with it. They don't give test drives, Don't give the rightful treatment to the customer who has already put in money, and don't bother to do a good job when something goes wrong.

[rameshnanda]

Today, I had a series of discussions with Fiat and Tata Motors officials and was able to infer that the problem is not with the dealer and it is indeed the distribution model of Fiat.

Today morning I called one Mr. Murali Subramanian from Fiat in Chennai. He listened the whole issue and asked me get in touch with Mr. Narendra Tripathi from Tata Motors. He is the product manager for Fiat. Mr. Murali told me that Fiat has no control over the distribution of Cars directly to the dealers. Once the vehicles are manufactured, it is queued to the Tata Motors for distribution. Tata Motors follow the FIFO method on distributing the cars to the dealers as and when the orders are placed. He asked for sometime and came back to me telling that car is indeed in transit and would arrive in Chennai in couple of days. But, the car again is manufactured in May'2011. I raised my concern again. He told that Fiat don't have any control over the distribution and asked me contact Mr. Narendra from Tata Motors.

I made a call to Mr. Narendra. He is aware of all the issues and even about this thread in T-BHP. Again, he told the same thing like they first need to clear the stocks which are manufactured in May and then they will allocate the stocks from June. He explained that the replacement car which they have sent now is manufactured on 31st May and the next batch vehicles were manufactured on 3rd June. He insisted on doing the PDI of the vehicle when it arrives Chennai and then take a call.

After discussing with all these people I sincerely feel that Fiat should have operated here alone.

[cranky]

@ramesh (and this is from a Fiat owner) - get another car. I know you like the Linea but if you get it and face problems later you will be in a cycle of self-guilt.

Cancel your booking and give the reasons in writing. They are obliged go return your booking amount with no obligations since the car has failed PDI.

Good Luck.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Today morning I called one Mr. Murali Subramanian from Fiat in Chennai. He listened the whole issue and asked me get in touch with Mr. Narendra Tripathi from Tata Motors. He is the product manager for Fiat. Mr. Murali told me that Fiat has no control over the distribution of Cars directly to the dealers. Once the vehicles are manufactured, it is queued to the Tata Motors for distribution. Tata Motors follow the FIFO method on distributing the cars to the dealers as and when the orders are placed. He asked for sometime and came back to me telling that car is indeed in transit and would arrive in Chennai in couple of days. But, the car again is manufactured in May'2011. I raised my concern again. He told that Fiat don't have any control over the distribution and asked me contact Mr. Narendra from Tata Motors.

Refer highlighted parts of your post. If Fiat themselves don't want their cars to be sold, why do you even want to buy one?

The Linea and Punto are amazing cars and it pains me to see their parent company treat them so shabbily. Why fault Tata? Fiat is the company you will need to deal with.

I don't get this whole "I am a Fiat fan" wave when the company doesn't even seem capable of handling their sales/service processes.

Perhaps Fiat should focus on their core competence (manufacturing) and sell OE parts to other auto majors who will at least be happy to sell these.

My advice to rameshnanda- please go TD some other cars. There are enough good options in that segment: Vento Tdi, Optra Magnum, Verna, Ford Fiesta come to mind. And please get your deposit back from the dealer: he is not interested in you (a returning customer no less) and couldn't care less if you did in fact withdraw your custom. So why bother?

[spindoc]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

Today, I had a series of discussions with Fiat and Tata Motors officials and was able to infer that the problem is not with the dealer and it is indeed the distribution model of Fiat.

Today morning I called one Mr. Murali Subramanian from Fiat in Chennai. He listened the whole issue and asked me get in touch with Mr. Narendra Tripathi from Tata Motors. He is the product manager for Fiat. Mr. Murali told me that Fiat has no control over the distribution of Cars directly to the dealers. Once the vehicles are manufactured, it is queued to the Tata Motors for distribution. Tata Motors follow the FIFO method on distributing the cars to the dealers as and when the orders are placed. He asked for sometime and came back to me telling that car is indeed in transit and would arrive in Chennai in couple of days. But, the car again is manufactured in May'2011. I raised my concern again. He told that Fiat don't have any control over the distribution and asked me contact Mr. Narendra from Tata Motors.

I made a call to Mr. Narendra. He is aware of all the issues and even about this thread in T-BHP. Again, he told the same thing like they first need to clear the stocks which are manufactured in May and then they will allocate the stocks from June. He explained that the replacement car which they have sent now is manufactured on 31st May and the next batch vehicles were manufactured on 3rd June. He insisted on doing the PDI of the vehicle when it arrives Chennai and then take a call.

After discussing with all these people I sincerely feel that Fiat should have operated here alone.

@rameshnanda, any updates? Are you sticking to fiat or looking at other options?

I am tempted by the substantial discounts currently available but your thread and some recent reports of spares being unavailable have left me really wary of Fiat.

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by spindoc

@rameshnanda, any updates? Are you sticking to fiat or looking at other options?

I am tempted by the substantial discounts currently available but your thread and some recent reports of spares being unavailable have left me really wary of Fiat.

spindoc, I am sticking with Fiat. On my episode, I see the whole issue with the distribution of Tata Motors. I am satisfied with the kind of response I got from Fiat.

I don't agree with the argument of bad A.S.S and unavailability of spares. I have owned Punto and was completely satisfied with the service. Even I would say I was more happy with Fiat than Hyundai. I owned a Getz sometime back.

The replacement car arrived last Friday and I completed the PDI on the same day. I am satisfied with the car. This time, the SA accompanied me during the PDI and they kept the car very clean before I arrived their yard. They have understood about their Fiat customers . Here are some snaps taken during the PDI.

[bottle]

^Congrats, glad you finally got the car you wanted.

This was at VST right ? Who was in charge of sales ? I remember interacting with a rep called Mohammad

[sdp1975]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

I don't agree with the argument of bad A.S.S and unavailability of spares. I have owned Punto and was completely satisfied with the service. Even I would say I was more happy with Fiat than Hyundai. I owned a Getz sometime back.

Congrats ! So the patience has paid off !

Even I've been reasonably satisfied ( touchwood) with the service/spare parts availability from Fiat in Bangalore, although other owners have had a varied experience.

Car looks beautiful, looking forward to a ownership report soon.