Fiat Linea & Punto 2012 Models - Now Launched

[SDP]

The launch is so close and somehow nobody has seen any test-mules. Surprising! Did I miss a thread?

On a separate note, Linea looks so beautiful that I can't imagine a facelift.

[murillo]

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Even if service was bad, if the sales figures were slightly better I would have gone for Linea.

Precisely. Prospective Fiat customers look at month-on-month sales of Fiat cars and are not encouraged enough to buy. In the purchase funnel, they do not go beyond the initial stages of "Awareness" and "Interest" onto a successful purchase decision. This is creating a negative feedback loop, wherein less sales reinforce lesser sales.

Improvements are most welcome to the interiors. However, in my humble opinion, what Fiat lacks and prospective customer acutely wants is Fiat's commitment to the Indian market. Fiat has no better way to show that than to come up with independent showrooms and service centers.

[madhav]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

TATA guys are the worst enemies of Fiat sales!

Very true... I own a Palio and during Jul - Oct time frame there were multiple calls (about 5 or 6) from TATA Customer Support asking me if I was interested in upgrading my car. When I say yes, they start with TATA models first (Manza, Safari etc) and never with Fiat. Why should they assume that a Fiat owner wants to upgrade to a TATA? Shouldn't they at least ask the customers preference? After I tell them that I'm interested only in Fiat, they say some one from the nearest dealership will get in touch with me in 2 days and not one call till now.
I'm not sure how Fiat is benefiting by not calling someone who has openly stated that he is interested in an upgrade and that too to a Fiat. No wonder they have such disastrous sales numbers!

Upgrades and face-lifts cannot be the only thing to help sales.. they need to follow through with their sales process.

[vasanthn21]

Originally Posted by murillo

Precisely. Prospective Fiat customers look at month-on-month sales of Fiat cars and are not encouraged enough to buy. In the purchase funnel, they do not go beyond the initial stages of "Awareness" and "Interest" onto a successful purchase decision. This is creating a negative feedback loop, wherein less sales reinforce lesser sales.

Improvements are most welcome to the interiors. However, in my humble opinion, what Fiat lacks and prospective customer acutely wants is Fiat's commitment to the Indian market. Fiat has no better way to show that than to come up with independent showrooms and service centers.

Exactly, my worry is - I buy a Fiat car and in 2 years, they might shut shop in India, where will I go for spare parts and service?
Only opening independent showroom and service centers might give rest to this question after a while.

[W.A.G.7]

Originally Posted by SDP

The launch is so close and somehow nobody has seen any test-mules. Surprising! Did I miss a thread?

That may be because they might be doing only cosmetic changes. There might not be any new engine or actual model changes. Let's wait and watch till 3rd Jan.

But then, what changes can you do to a car that is already beautiful?

It's a case of too little too late. At-least now they should take this opportunity and part ways with Tata. Unfortunately, even though their portfolio is good, Fiat doesn't seem to be really interested in selling cars in India.

[ACM]

Originally Posted by murillo

Precisely. Prospective Fiat customers look at month-on-month sales of Fiat cars and are not encouraged enough to buy. Improvements are most welcome to the interiors. However, in my humble opinion, what Fiat lacks and prospective customer acutely wants is Fiat's commitment to the Indian market.

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Even if service was bad, if the sales figures were slightly better I would have gone for Linea.

Well it is a chicken and egg story as always. One does not buy due to poor sales which in turn implies poor sales.

Fiat has actually show a lot of commitment to the India market. It has this massive JV Plant with TATA with a capacity of about 35000 engines per month. (Which now even Maruti will source from).

It needs to do something different and Exclusive showrooms in addition to the existing one plus fresher interiors may work at least partially. A step in the right direction.

If Fiat were to go solo I for one would be kind of worried as it is then sustainablity of that mode will come into question especially with their low numbers an Dealer will not continue to work with them if sales do not go up. Presently with TATA Dealers working with them the Dealer does not have an option of giving up FIAT whatever may be the sales of that product. It is a package deal.

[aqualeo2040]

well, there were enough evidences/test mules with the 1.6MJD on a Linea. Are we sure that this is not the so called promised upgrade?

Not sure what they do want to do with the GP though. Given the choice, we have seen that the lowest grossing model in the array is the 1.4 Emo/pk series(I guess they have almost stopped making these). In order give that a boost, they may plonk the TJET mill in the top end model a la Punto 90HP.

[samarjitdhar]

Wanted to share this with all Fiat enthusiasts on TBHP. This came out in Reuters today.

Analysis: Crisis-hit Italy tests Fiat's allegiance | Reuters

I happened to talk to one of my coworkers from Italy who was visiting India last week on work. We discussed in detail the automobile scene in Italy and naturally the conversation veered towards what is going on or wrong with Fiat .

Seems Italian's do not perceive Fiat to be a good quality car any more because a lot of them have faced various quality issues with their Fiats. My coworker himself owns an Alfa Romeo which is owned by Fiat and he is looking to switch over to either the Golf or a Prius. Diesel prices are only a shade lower than petrol in Italy hence his choice. According to him, Italians are now more gravitated towards German cars, specially VW sells pretty well and as expected the Audis, Beemers and Mercs are aspired for their snob factor. The Linea is not a model sold in Italy though the MJD engine is well known. In fact the multi-air diesel which is the next big thing for Fiat is doing its duty in the Fiat 500 already. No wonder it will be priced INR 15 lakhs and above .

So based on the news reported, the complacence of Fiat is not an India specific phenomenon. Somewhere down the line perhaps Fiat was too lazy to aggressively go out and sell their technology and cars unlike the Germans.

[nkg77]

Originally Posted by vasanthn21

Exactly, my worry is - I buy a Fiat car and in 2 years, they might shut shop in India, where will I go for spare parts and service?
Only opening independent showroom and service centers might give rest to this question after a while.

Even I used to worry about spare parts, but after owning Fiats for almost 4.5 years I can say there was not a single day where the cars were not usable due non availability of spares.

If you like Fiat just go buy it and enjoy the ride

[iceman7]

Wishful Thinking - What if Fiat plonks the T-Jet into the Punto?

And what if they also give us a 1.6 Linea?

[download2live]

Anyone has any pictures to post regarding this facelift?

Somewhere deep in heart I feel FIAT is happy minting money by selling MJD's and cars are side business for them.
There is so much they can do and the MBA's they have hired are not stupid. There must be some unwritten instruction which would have set limits to the extent they go about in India.

[teknophobia]

I wish I could get excited about the facelift, but since I'm expecting to take delivery of a Minimal Grey Linea sometime this week, I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it

[MAS]

Originally Posted by teknophobia

I wish I could get excited about the facelift, but since I'm expecting to take delivery of a Minimal Grey Linea sometime this week, I guess I'll just have to grin and bear it

If I were you, I would delay my purchase by a month; check the upgraded version and then decide why car to buy.

[teknophobia]

Naah, I got a good discount and I've inspected and invoiced the car, wasn't in town, otherwise it'd have been registered as well.

[rsjaurr]

Now when I was tilting towards Rapid from Linea once again new improved Linea will confuse me even more.I just hope they don't revise the prices upwards.

Originally Posted by teknophobia

Naah, I got a good discount and I've inspected and invoiced the car, wasn't in town, otherwise it'd have been registered as well.

Can you please share what all you got as discount?