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-   -   Fiat revvs away from Tata dealerships. To set up its own distribution network (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/119990-fiat-revvs-away-tata-dealerships-set-up-its-own-distribution-network-4.html)

This will be a good move provided FIAT doesnt think that moving away from TATA will be a panacea for all evils. Exclusive sales and service network will definitely improve visibility that they are seriously lacking now (check Crazydriver's Punto buying episode).

But apart from this they need to introduce products faster at competitive prices - they need to realize that they do not have the brand equity of any of the other manufacturer in India

Chrysler range may help. But they really need a Figo type no-nonsense low priced vehicle below the Punto

1 & 4) Agreed, Accenture is not a joker ( of a company ), my friend is working in Accenture. But how come Fiat is never managed to be successful till date ? Look of a product can kill a product. Baleno rear end, Wagon R, Santro ( which took their own time to become grand success ). Fiat had products like GP and Linea which are generally good looking, specially Linea. Why not success.

Why tie up with TATA ? In the first place itself why did they sign MOU with Tata only ?

Since long I am reading about Fiat and repeatedly there are interviews mentioned in media where Fiat has shown seriousness. Earlier UNO's were there in the helpline, then came palio and still no success. Palio was once having a waiting list, but what happened ?
India gave them good response in Uno ( which was tremendous response for that time ) and then Palio.

Accenture or not, what is practically happening ? Why was the current JV not evaluated earlier with more IDA ? Rethink strategies after suffering so much ?
Remember, Suzuki did ask for higher Fiat support and even had talked for combined plant for diesel engine ( source ACI, read in article ) but Fiat(/tata) did not agree. Now Fiat would be supplying diesel engines to Suzuki.

a) My uncle had palio 1.9 and relatives had S10. Both of them were not happy with A.S & S.
b) Uncle wanted to buy GP, but Fiat fear set in.
c) My friend has Palio, he is always unhappy with service, etc. and right now owns Dzire.
d) I am on marketing research side.
e) My dad's brother lost money in UNO booking. He has 3 maruti cars ( 800, old waggie, new swift diesel ).

2) Equipment, for me ( personal view ) its more about engine and performance. Yes, they do offer equipment, but is that sufficient ?
I expect a Rs. 10/- lakh diesel sedan to be faster than what linea is. Optra diesel might low on equipment, but with almost similar price, one can have optra diesel which is much faster, more spacious and with a better dealer/support network. Dzire, Ertiga and even diesel SX4 manage to be faster than diesel linea.

3) Then why not bigger diesel motors ? why only Tjet ? Ford Fiesta classic ( 1.6 )offers similar dynamics to Linea, has better dealer/support network and is fun to drive. The new diesel Fiesta ( though overpriced ) has better refinement and better performance at almost same price.

5) Prevention is better than cure. Fiat should have thought of this before. Tata was never known to offer good A.S & S., still Fiat preferred Tata. Thats not the point, point is from now on, how quick can Fiat be. Fiat-Suzuki alliance could have helped IMO even on a more global level. VW bought Suzuki shares mainly for India market ( but VW smartly mentioned Asia-Pacific region ).

6) VW have built a brand and entered into a buyers radar. That is one thing we cannot ignore. Regarding falling footfalls, VW pricing seems to have gone in overconfident mode. Overpriced Vento is dangerously close to Cruze ( lower spec ). VW might be losing Vento business to Rapid ( which is doing rather good ). Jetta again is priced in SUV terriorty and superb is also there from Skoda.
But at the end of the day, VW is now much better known than Fiat in much less amount of time. Fiat is not alien to Indian market. They should have learnt from 800-decimating-Padmini days. There was a lot of scope to learn and come up in better shape.

7) Same as above, Fiat was there in Indian market for long, should have leanrt much more and acted more smartly. A south Korean major set the pace for crdi tech in less than rs. 10/- lakh segment ( viva ), Maruti carried forward it in small cars. Fiat did anything ? That was raises serious doubt. Fiat is in fact one of the main pioneers of CRDI tech. They have so many innovations but we are yet to even get Multiair.

Just to clarify my view of VFM and not VFM :
VFM cars : Dzire, Fiesta Classic, SX4 petrol, Ritz, City, Brio, ( & most of maruti small cars ), Xylo, Optra, Cruze ( lower spec )
NON VFM : Toyota Innova, Fortuner, Corolla, Civic, Vento, Fluence, diesel sX4, polo ( we get 3 cyld ? )..the list is quite long .

As a FIAT owner, I really don't know if this is good or bad news. What happens to current owners in the near future before the new dealerships are setup ? Will the current TATA dealerships continue to give attention to FIAT owners? I was quite happy with my service center but now I'm confused.

I will be in the running for a new car in about 10 months and, frankly, from the current cars available in the market, the Linea is the only one that I like but now I'm not sure if I will go for it or not. I'm not a brand loyalist but the fact of the matter is that the Linea is a good car and offers much more bang for the buck than VW, Honda, Ford and the others.

FIAT needs to launch more products in the market, market heavily, track inventory better and focus on their existing customers. Contrary to what people think, I don't think Indian market is a mature market. Except for Maruti, Hyundai, TATA and Mahindra, no other manufacturer has a good brand recall. It's all about getting the customers in and then giving them a decent product. FIAT atleast has the brand recall, albeit a negative one. That needs to change.

I think people here are expecting some sort of revolution to happen with Fiat going it alone, earlier versions of the Fiat sales and service network are a good reference point as to what they will manage on their own. Fiat never had a reputation for quality service, their cars appeal to a miniscule percentage of car buyers, even fewer of whom are willing to risk their money to experience TASS.

The Tata-Fiat JV has been a whipping boy long enough, Fiat should have never expected Tata to sell their cars, Tata was looking for a good technology partner to replace their stone age tech and the MJD delivered on that count. Tata dealerships are not supposed to be a premium experience, they give you the largest sofa for the best price, not a Lazyboy at a discount. Tata customer put up with that mostly because their priorities are space, low cost spares and cheaper initial cost - Tata delivers on all counts.

Fiat concentrated on selling European cars at a premium - low interior space, heavy steering etc., I know the driving experience is superior, but if you haven't figured out after more than a decade that its not what the buyer wants, its hard to have anything more than a toe hold in the market. The new dealers would have a tough time getting manpower. The effect of this move will be known in about a year's time, I hope Fiat doesn't manage to be another Skoda.

It is good for FIAT. At the least it gives them free hand to position themselves better in India and am sure being here for some time now, they have learnt their lessons. Hope they role out great choices in both petro and diesel, I had really liked their T-jet, but dropped out due to the concerns already expressed by others.

As VW car owner I can vouch for the fact that VW service is one of the worst in the Industry. I am mostly sure that Fiat was far better than them in this apsect with Tata JV. But VW cars atleast in India are of better quality, fit and finish compared to Fiat. My Polo in 2 years of ownership did not have a single major niggle or problem. Also VW has a snob value due to their moderately succefull premium portfolio. Other than may be a Maruti or a Toyota no car manufacturer in India can provide satisfactoy dealer experience to the customer.

Official confirmation -

Fiat India

Kill the brand and desert customers once again? I am sorry but I for one do not think it is really a good IDEA at all. If they do that they'll not be able to even surface again in the market.

I didn't read anywhere in this thread or in the news that the existing customers' car(s) will not be serviced by the newly set up FIAT dealerships, did I? Setting up their own dealerships will make the supply of spares better for sure. In the current situation, walk into a Tata-FIAT service centre, and ask them how many of each spare of FIAT cars they have in stock. You will be taken aback when you see the numbers! The current JV service centres just don't want to stock FIAT spares.

That being said, I do agree that a new independent dealership network will have its own pros and cons. Non Metro cities MIGHT take a hit. Just might!
FIAT has instilled a lot of confidence in its present customers (atleast 9 out of 10 are a satisfied lot). What FIAT should now do is out-class the JV service quality with their own. This will instill more confidence into the existing customers and the word will spread bringing in more prospect buyers!! Just take an analogy, 5 out of 10 people who buy a Maruthi Suzuki car go for the brand because of the dealership network and the service quality.

Bull's Eye! I could not agree more. This is high time FIAT pulls up its socks and starts providing better service and spares supply for the Palios and Sienas. Current Palio and Siena owners may be repeat-business in the name of exchange/loyalty bonuses. You never know!!

+1 to that!
Let's agree that FIAT is not doing well in the Indian market. But as you said, they have enough revenue outside India (Brazil and the likes where they are doing good) and this is definitely a positive move!

May be they had plans of moving out of the sales JV and wanted to wait to introduce the 1.6MJD.

Well, i am not sure if to be happy or scared. My punto is nearly 16 months old and clocked about 26000kms and my next service is nearing. By when is fiat actually going to setup their own service centers? And i fear what happens if i take my car to TASS? I didnt have any major issue with the service. Will i still get same level of service if not more from TASS? What if they feel that as Fiat is not associated with Tata, they might not care. I ll be cautiously using my car andtry to use lesser till further newscomes up. I wish Fiat the best and i love my punto and hope they will do the right thing.

By the way i also found this link- not sure if its already shared...

fiat-india.com/newsdetails.aspx?nid=77

As said by sharninder, the fellow TBHPian, as a FIAT owner, I too really don't know if this is good or bad news. Take a serious look at the official announcement and you can see the FIAT management is :deadhorse

"Fiat and Tata have agreed that, in order to further develop the Fiat brand in India, management control of Fiat’s commercial and distribution activities will be handed over to a separate Fiat Group owned company."

This is the opening statement of the press release. Absolutely mum about "service". Your natural assumption would be that TATA will continue to service the FIAT vehicles till you read this:
"Tata Motors will hand over the distribution and service responsibility for Fiat cars in India to a Fiat Group owned company being formed for this purpose."

A. why should FIAT form a separate company to sell and service just two products through just 22 or so dealers? (Maybe they have serious plans to bring in other sexy brands; maybe they have several people on their senior management and they need another office and designations to accommodate them.)

B. IMO, rather than "being formed" they should have formed and launched the company and named it here in this statement along with the 22 cities which are on the focus list. (Now, till the new maverick marketing and service venture takes off, there won't be any new Linea/Punto owners. I won't be surprised if their sales read zero in June 2012 sales analysis.)

Sorry for the long post.

Hi Mate, No offences meant but consulting is something every company thinks is going to benefit them. Fiat needs to pick street smart people who will sell their cars. At the same time, Fiat is one company making awsome cars but the joint venture with TATA's is the something similar to a person becoming totally dependent on the other to manage all its resources.

Last two years i have bought two different cars and Fiat was always a contender. But was really pushed back by the laid back attitude of TATA dealers towrds fiat cars. Fiat was always pushed to one dark corner where there were no lights and the moment i told that i want to buy a FIAT car, the salesmen ran away. There was no follow up either. When discussed over the phone and informed that I wanted to buy a FIAT punto MJD but the salesguy was always pitching in Indica vista QDJ. Had even dropped a mail to the MD of FIAT india mentioning the attitude of TATA dealers but i have every reason to believe that he is also not interested in selling cars. This really made me wonder if Mr Rajeev is genuinely concerned with sales after all.:deadhorseIf this was the condition of the sales, i was really worried about the service as well. There is no point buying a car which is already dieing a slow death and then keep on cribbing about service.

The phrase 'Damn if you do, damn if you don't' applies to FIAT India. In spite of dwindling sales, FIAT India is trying their best to improve their brand image. If FIAT India remains quiet, people used to bash it, saying that it should have independent sales and service network and blah..blah. Now that FIAT India and Tata Motors have jointly announced new distribution and service model, again the same people have started lashing out FIAT India. I hope that the new model would be good both for FIAT India and the existing FIAT car owners in long term.

Agreed 100%. The earlier criticism on Fiat was that they haven't invested in independent sales/service centres, so they may get out of the JV and exit India at any time. Now Fiat has shown that it is willing to invest in creating own sales/service network (thus showing they are in for the long haul), and they are being accused of taking service out of existing Tata network.

I am a Fiat owner, and I too am concerned what will happen to my regular service centre (with it not being in a Tier 1 city). But if Fiat is willing to set up their own sales/service centre in my area, then I welcome such a move.

+1 to that.
Fiat might be making money selling the 1.3 MJDs to Maruti & Tata, but their own cars powered with this mill are going nowhere when it comes to sales.
They would definitely not like to see Manza 1.6 QJD, SX4 1.6 MJD, etc.. again outselling Linea 1.6.

Getting new dealers to sign up (even if they are existing Tata folks) will not be an easy task. The current sales numbers and only 2 models just does not provide enough incentive to pump in money for setting up new dealerships. Initially Fiat will need to pump in some money for having a few COCO dealers.

And most importantly they need more cars in their portfolio. Even if it takes time to launch new cars, the marketing team needs to go on an overdrive (not like the current ads which showcases the Fiat's situation - "underwater"). Need to ensure that Fiat stays in the limelight by building up some kinda of customer excitement. A good example would be Renault (5 models by end of 2012) & Ford (8 models by 2015).

Well, that's a general pattern I see all over the forum, not just on Fiat, but on many other matters. I can think of an analogy from the cricket commentators. In retrospect, they always accuse the bowlers either of "not being consistent" or "being predictable" when things go wrong.

I think and hope that Fiat folks are not going through our forums, for if they do, they will just go mad as to what really is the problem with them. Often, people are just too quick to post comments that are not being backed by solid analysis or data or logic in the form of personal opinions. Well, I am not saying that one shouldn't, for everyone is entitled for personal opinions. I am just saying it's often easier to just ignore if you feel that the opinion doesn't sound right to you.