Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   The Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/)

-   -   Fiat India MD & CEO Rajeev Kapoor retires (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/125802-fiat-india-md-ceo-rajeev-kapoor-retires.html)

Rajeev Kapoor’s 5-year stint as MD & CEO of Fiat India will come to an end today after the company announced that he will be retiring from his post. A former GM of Hero Honda, Kapoor was appointed MD of Fiat India in 2007. He became the first Indian to hold that position.

The Punto and Linea were launched during his tenure. The most significant development during his stint at Fiat was the joint venture with Tata Motors. The JV invested in car manufacturing and engine plants, while also collaborating in marketing and distribution. However, the JV had an unsuccessful run and incurred massive losses, running over Rs 227 crore in 2010-11. The Italian carmaker’s market share has been on a downfall in recent years.

IMO he must be a satisfied Man today. Although I am sure , what he set out to achieve is not even 10 % achieved but yes, he has done a decent jobs in setting up huge factories, opening FIAT cafe;s & building infrastructure in terms of manufacturing facilities. A new CEO should Push FIAT now where it;s lacking, Focus on End user. They have spend 5 years and are still no where in the eyes of end user.

I thought Enrico Atanasio would become the next president succeeding Rajeev Kapoor, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/16013424.cms

Gurpratap Boparai a former Tata Motors employee, who is currently, VP, head, Powertrain Division at Fiat India Automobiles Limited, is likely to replace Rajeev Kapoor, two people in the know of the matter said.

Hope they pull up their socks and concentrate on improving their service network, and increase focus on marketing their brand and their cars more aggressively.

P.S - I have a sly feeling that fiat logo picture is taken from my t-jet's ownership thread, I recognize those dirt stains ;)

Mr. Rajeev Kapoor was very successful with Hero-Honda JV but with Tata-Fiat he could not deliver as per the expectations. None-the-less he has given Fiat the foothold in India under very challenging circumstances. I feel he did not have the support from the parent company to the extent required.

Before signing off, he has laid the foundation of exclusive Fiat dealership and service network in India. The new CEO should now concentrate on the Fiat brand building more aggresively, supported by new products.

I also believed that Enrico Atanasio would be succeding Mr. Kapoor as the MD and CEO. Hope the new CEO brings good fortunes for Fiat.

I Thank Mr. Rajeev for bringing in the car I have, but it is not enough. I am not happy with how he has run Fiat in India. I am not sure if it is entirely his fault or if he is just following orders from the parent company. Fiat are anyways not know for their great customer service even in bigger markets. What Mr. Kapoor should have done was improve on it and prove that Fiat India can perform better. The present scenario does not feel any different from how the days were when it was PAL and TVS taking care of service. It is the same hit or miss. I can say that the cars were far better put together when PAL did it.

Fiat India have done nothing to improve the quality of their cars, work on customer service and bring in better and more capable engines. Their so called 2012 edition have failed miserably. The Punto and Linea has not managed to sell the numbers that it did when first launched.

To me it feels like Fiat India are not interested. As a customer, I do not want to deal with waiting for spare parts if something were to fail. It is just annoying.

I was also shocked to hear and see the class of people at Fiat India higher management. They could barely speak a word in English. Wearing a suit and tie does not cut it.

I hope there is a brighter light at the end of the tunnel for Fiat India.

So it;s official

http://www.fiat-india.com/newsdetails.aspx?nid=82

I doubt Mr. Rajeev Kapoor was successful to the extent it was visible. I guess he could have better managed the FIAT A$$ by recruiting one or two Fiat employees in every TATA A$$ to take care of Fiat customers or atleast as escalation points. Am sure that would NOT have impacted the bottom line by much! He also could have asked for a partition in TATA sales outlet and dedicated staff for FIAT which would have prevented TATA SAs from converting sales. Probably that could have saved the JV split too! I see the JV with TATA as a step in the right direction but wrongly executed. TATA had much more to lose in the split [on the technology front], so Rajeev Kapoor had the upper hand which he failed to leverage on! Though I kind of feel that the split from TATA was a better move in the current scenario, so brownie points to the ex CEO for that.

As a personal favorite, I would have LOVED to see Karl Slym replacing him. I still have so much respect for the person on how he transformed GM in India! But I hope the new MD takes Fiat to further levels of success!

When I read the news, I thought Mr. Kapoor had resigned. Not so. Since he has retired, I hope the new management continue to use him as external consultant.

You are so right. At the time when he needed most support from the parent, they were busy with Chrysler merger.

leaving a sinking ship sirjee? as a new generation Fiat owner I have had first hand experience of the infamous fiat a.s.s and the age old babu mentality of chalta hain from top fiat India execs. good cars but horrible management.

Fiat needs to clarify its strategy regarding the Management of its Sales and After sales services. There was a news of Fiat cars being discontinued to sell from TATA outlets, but they are being sold as well as serviced. What I see is Fiats are not being sold through some of the TATA dealerships in small towns. Either it should be with TATA or set up its own outlets.

Independent sales & service outlets would enhance the customer's confidence into their products. Schemes like 2-3 years maintenance free (like chevy) would attract customers to invest!

Also, its product portfolio is too small. Linea & Punto are great cars, but addition of budget hatch (like a Panda) and a rugged SUV/MUV is the need of the hour.

Where is Fiat India Heading ?

Below is a Report of August 2012. Also Noticed that the MD's Corner on the Fiat India Website is No Longer there!


After serving a prosperous time with Fiat India Automobile Limited, a Joint Venture between Tata Motors and Fiat SpA, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the company, Rajeev Kapoor submitted his final papers to the senior authorities. The statement is confirmed by the spokesperson of Fiat India.

It is believed that the current Vice President and head of Powertrain Division, Gurpratap Boparai, will fill in the shoes of Kapoor. In an conversation with ET, Kapoor told, “The stint was very exciting for me at Fiat India, setting up of facilities and launching two Fiat and three Tata cars starting Jan 2009. I would have certainly loved to see more Fiat cars on Indian roads. I am sure it would happen very soon.”

When appointed as a Managing Director in 2007, Kapoor was the first Indian leader of Fiat in country. Prior to Fiat, he was serving at the position of General Manager and plant head with the India's largest two-wheeler maker, Hero Honda Motors Limited.

Kapoor is also acclaimed as the man behind the JV of Tata Motors and Fiat in India, which made fortunes for the Italian auto giant. However, the sales of JV were not so impressive and witnessed a constant fall since fiscal 2009. In financial year 2010, the venture between two renowned auto makers reported a loss of Rs. 288.69 crore, which was somehow reduced to Rs. 227.04 crore in fiscal 2011. However, in fiscal 2011, at the time when the auto market expanded by 25-30 per cent, the demand for company's vehicles on domestic turf faced a downhill by 15 per cent amounting to 21,066 units.

Following a similar trend in fiscal 2012, the yearly volumes of the JV witnessed a dip 24 per cent with sales of 16,095 units, despite of the fact that the auto maker offered several goodies and freebies ranging from Rs. 50,000 to 1 lacs. On the situation, an industry source, without revealing his identity quoted, “Kapoor had to manage demands of two different boards which might have delayed the decision making and on the other, the support from the headquarters in 2009-10 was also found wanting, with Fiat SpA busy integrating Chrysler, which took away the attention from countries like India.”


PS: Source: cartrade.com
Mods: in case this thread Exisits, Please Merge it with the existing Thread

The only thing thats permanent is CHANGE. Change will get the good stuff often, lets the ball rolling at a better pace.

Let us wait and watch how FIAT will play this time. This time, are they going to change the game or just they wanna show their presence.

The only thing that matters to customers is that Good Service centres + Availability of spares + Better product. If a company cant provide these basic things to their customers, then its not worth buying a product from them. Till now FIAT was on the other side. Let us see if they could manage to change their side or not. Another 1 year in their hands. If they cant do it this time, they can never do it.