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Originally Posted by nkrishnap 1) How did you come to a conclusion that its too little too late. FIAT wasted money in getting help with Management consulting group of Accenture. I have personally seen the Management Consulting group of Accenture and they are no idiots. What a waste of money did the people at FIAT do.
The current JV looked very good on paper. when one partner looks to extract the most from the technically superior partner and provide step motherly treatment at the sales itself. Is it not right to rethink the strategies.
2) Linea overpriced. To what are the prices being compared to? is it Dzire, Indigo, alto? There are other cars with lesser equipment and still priced above the Linea and yet they are not overpriced.
3) Its not that FIAT does not have the technology or the capability to get bigger and better engines. What would FIAT want to see a Manza 1.6 MJD? I for one would really hate it. No offense to anybody.
4) Again how did you arrive at FIAT not being serious about India. Just curious to know whether you are Management Consulting or research? if yes, would you please provide more insight as how you arrived at this conclusion.
5) To your question of the quick actions, its not a game to change it overnight. by doing quick changes, if either of the partners take the legal route then be rest assured nothing is gonna change in the years to come knowing our legal system.
6) On the VW thing, did you not read an article last week on how VW is struggling to get more foot falls in the showroom? Its not a rapid growth you require for a year and then everything goes dead.
7) From the current actions of FIAT, they seem to be serious about the markets of China and India. They will step up the speed knowing that they simply cannot ignore these two markets. |
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 .