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Old 28th July 2014, 19:36   #1756
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Re: Fiat's India strategy revealed. Abarth, Jeep, new Linea & Punto coming. More insi

7 shades of Fiat Punto Evo

Glitterati Gold
Fiat's India strategy revealed-punto1.jpg

Minimal Grey
Fiat's India strategy revealed-punto2.jpg

Hip Hop Black
Fiat's India strategy revealed-punto3.jpg

Exotica Red
Fiat's India strategy revealed-punto4.jpg

Vocal White
Fiat's India strategy revealed-punto5.jpg

Tuscan Wine
Fiat's India strategy revealed-punto6.jpg

Magnesio Grey
Fiat's India strategy revealed-punto7.jpg

Hope Fiat gets sales in 4 digits.
Source: Rushlane, Overdrive and Motorbeam

Last edited by damager21 : 28th July 2014 at 19:38.
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Old 28th July 2014, 19:52   #1757
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Re: Fiat's India strategy revealed. Abarth, Jeep, new Linea & Punto coming. More insi

Black is the only one that makes the chrome look good. Looks super slick. Rest are just functional.

FIAT seriously missed the opportunity by not introducing a new pot and sticking to the old ones. I hope the sales increase, but that's never going to happen if the management keep sleeping like this.
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Old 28th July 2014, 20:02   #1758
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Re: Fiat's India strategy revealed. Abarth, Jeep, new Linea & Punto coming. More insi

I liked the minimal grey the most! Ofcourse, the alloy wheels are different too. In the previous gen, I liked the black the most; this with this edition, black is not that great IMO.
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Old 28th July 2014, 22:14   #1759
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Quote:
Originally Posted by damager21 View Post
7 shades of Fiat Punto Evo

Glitterati Gold
Attachment 1267383

Minimal Grey
Attachment 1267384

Hip Hop Black
Attachment 1267385

Exotica Red
Attachment 1267386

Vocal White
Attachment 1267406

Tuscan Wine
Attachment 1267388

Magnesio Grey
Attachment 1267407

Hope Fiat gets sales in 4 digits.
Source: Rushlane, Overdrive and Motorbeam

Dam! What happened to that lovely blue shade? It's sad to know that the blue shade has been put to rest. They could avoided two grey shades and included the blue, that way all sporty colors would have been available. It was one of the elegant colors on the Punto.
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Old 29th July 2014, 11:03   #1760
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Re: Fiat's India strategy revealed. Abarth, Jeep, new Linea & Punto coming. More insi

The evo looks hawtt in almost all the shades. But IMHO it's the minimal grey that looks the best on the sculpted body.

Along with the same old engine combos, another thing that Fiat should have changed are the old style flap handles on the door. A car this good looking should have been fitted with the modern pull type handles!
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Old 29th July 2014, 13:33   #1761
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Re: Fiat's India strategy revealed. Abarth, Jeep, new Linea & Punto coming. More insi

Following post on Facebook confirms launch of Abarth before December this year.
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I think after a long time Fiat India will have a good mix of cars to pull customers to their showrooms.
  • Linea Classic
  • New Linea
  • Punto Evo
  • Avventura
  • Abarth
I strongly believe that Avventura could be Fiat India's secret weapon to catapult it's monthly sales figure to 2000+ units.


Last edited by damager21 : 29th July 2014 at 13:51.
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Old 29th July 2014, 15:14   #1762
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Re: Fiat's India strategy revealed. Abarth, Jeep, new Linea & Punto coming. More insi

Quote:
Originally Posted by damager21 View Post
Following post on Facebook confirms launch of Abarth before December this year.

I think after a long time Fiat India will have a good mix of cars to pull customers to their showrooms.
  • Linea Classic
  • New Linea
  • Punto Evo
  • Avventura
  • Abarth
I strongly believe that Avventura could be Fiat India's secret weapon to catapult it's monthly sales figure to 2000+ units.
The Abarth 500 is coming in 2014 probably in December. It will be Australian version of the Abarth 500.

On the sales, front, the Linea Classic and Linea Facelift together is hardly achieving anything worth mentioning. The Punto Evo and Avventura might touch a 1000 units. The Abarth launch is more of a brand building exercise and the Abarth numbers will not be huge. Fiat should do well if they get to 1500 units a month.

PS: they lost an opportunity to introduce the 1.6 MJD in Linea and a gearbox upgrade. The same is followed with the Punto Evo. Not sure for how long Fiat can drag this along.
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Old 29th July 2014, 18:04   #1763
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Re: Fiat's India strategy revealed. Abarth, Jeep, new Linea & Punto coming. More insi

Guys,

Our 2014 Punto report can be found at this link. Please discuss the car only on the new thread.

Thanks!
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Old 31st July 2014, 14:21   #1764
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Re: 2014 Fiat Punto Evo : A Close Look

I think there are 3 key pillars for success of any auto manufacturer and this is a viscous cycle where if you are not good in even one of them then you are out of sync.

1. Dealer network
Maruti, Tata, Honda, Hyundai, all have huge dealer network which means they are closer to their prospective customers and hence easily accessible.

This is still a work in progress for Fiat. Fiat's target is to reach 150 dealers by March 2015. Compare this with Honda which would have 230 dealers by then. As on date I think Fiat has only 110 dealers, with such a limited reach I am sure they are leaking sales.

Case in point is Mumbai, there are only 2 dealers. That's too less for a metro.

2. Product
This is again an area which is work in progress for Fiat. We have only 2 models, Linea and Punto. Gradually as they launch Avventura and Abarth later this year, it should lead to higher footfalls and hence conversions.

Another important aspect which Fiat needs to focus on is functional benefit. I strongly feel that a lot of Fiat sales today is driven by emotional connect with their car and hence is limited.

Look at Honda, a car maker which was struggling in 2011 has now leapfrogged into 3rd place. Every car that Honda launches, the focus is on Fuel efficiency while every car which Hyundai launches, the focus is on best in class features. Tata with Zest & Bolt is also trying to focus on functional benefit. Maybe that's what the market needs.

While Fiat cars may have best built quality, best ride and handling - it will not sell if people don't see high fuel efficiency or features like Push Start button, Keyless entry, etc.

Honda has dropped its Premium-car strategy and is working on going mass. At some stage, Fiat will have to take a similar call of coming up with lighter cars which offers more functional benefits.

3. After sales service
I don't own a Fiat car but I think there is a negative perception about their after sales service. The only thing they can do is work harder on improving this and gradually positive word of mouth will lead to perception change.

I genuinely believe that Fiat is focusing on this and possibly has a better customer service than Volkswagen and Skoda.


Fiat definitely needs one big product which can drive footfalls. EcoSport did it for Ford, Amaze did it for Honda, Zest will do the same for Tata. I am pretty confident that Avventura will do it for Fiat.
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Old 31st July 2014, 16:41   #1765
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Re: 2014 Fiat Punto Evo : A Close Look

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Originally Posted by damager21 View Post
I am pretty confident that Avventura will do it for Fiat.
I doubt. After seeing the Avventura in skin, I really could not find a reason why one should go for Avventura instead of the Punto unless of-course there is a different engine on offer. But even then, I doubt it would open any sort of flood gates as far as sales is concerned for Fiat.

They need one extremely fuel efficient mass market friendly car to drive the crowds into the showroom, that might rub on the other models and get something moving. As of now, I dont see Avventura doing that.

I might be wrong though.
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Old 1st August 2014, 00:38   #1766
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Re: 2014 Fiat Punto Evo : A Close Look

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Originally Posted by lapis_lazuli View Post
Forgive me, I am pretty naive here, but I dont see a dedicated Fabia forum or an i10 forum or an Alto forum for that matter, at least in India. Why is this?
Forums are created not only for the love towards the brand or specific model of car. Its also because of issues. Service or spares issues. If everything is good with no issues am sure people would solely prefer forums like team-bhp than have xyz forums. I love my Maruti 800 and my RX 135, since its easy to maintain and niggle free, I don't look for any specific club/forums. To own and maintain a Fiat, many would need such forums

One area isn't highlighted in this thread. Why doesn't Fiat sell well with reasonably good products(Subjective, but I feel it is/was good enough to sell atleast 4-5k units a month)?

Answer: After Sales Service. Barring a few service centre's, rest are poor. It cant match even industry averages. Number of service centres are also less. Parts issues are not totally sorted out and one often has to wait for one or the other parts. The used car prices often is an indicator on how good spares and service of a brand is. Used Maruti 800s and Altos are more expensive than top end Palios of same age and condition, even though when new Palios costed atleast double. Even a person looking for a very cheap car wouldn't easily buy a Palio even if its dirt cheap prices. Similarly, don't we see a poorer resale for Punto and Linea? I am a beneficiary of this and brought a used Linea MJD top end emotion pack for cost lesser of used Swift VDI of same age.

Unless service and spares are improved, get the 1.5/1.6MJD, Avventura, face lifts, Abarths or 500's nothing will change. At max, it will give a temporary surge in Sales. In this aspect TJet is a good example. Even though its so fun to drive and adequate performance, it doesn't sell. Why would you expect a Punto TJet or a Linea 1.5/1.6MJD to set Sales charts on Fire?

Last edited by funkykar : 1st August 2014 at 00:40.
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Old 1st August 2014, 11:39   #1767
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Re: 2014 Fiat Punto Evo : A Close Look

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Originally Posted by PrideRed View Post
1. I hardly get to see any Fiat service centers. Wonder if they have one.
@Mods: Sorry about the OT, could not resist this one

I believe this was more of a sarcasm.

From your profile, your location is Bangalore. The details about Fiat dealerships and services centers in Bangalore. 4 Sales outlets and 4 service centers are present as of today and Bangalore accounts for around 15-20% of the overall sales of Fiat India. The Bangalore network seems reasonable.

1. Aadya Motors (Ebony)

Sales outlet - Near Mekri Circle
Service Center - Outer ring road, near the new BEL office

2. KHT Motors

Sales Outlet - Fiat Caffe near EGL, 2nd outlet near Kundalahalli/Graphite India Signal
Service Center - Opp to Shantinikethan near ITPL

3. Vecto Motors

Sales Outlet - Singasandra Hosur Road, 2nd one coming in a couple of months on Mysore Road near the VW showroom
Service Center - Singasandra Hosur Road, 2nd one near RV College/Global Village.
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Old 1st August 2014, 12:18   #1768
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Re: 2014 Fiat Punto Evo : A Close Look

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Originally Posted by nkrishnap View Post
@Mods: Sorry about the OT, could not resist this one

I believe this was more of a sarcasm.

From your profile, your location is Bangalore. The details about Fiat dealerships and services centers in Bangalore. 4 Sales outlets and 4 service centers are present as of today and Bangalore accounts for around 15-20% of the overall sales of Fiat India. The Bangalore network seems reasonable.

1. Aadya Motors (Ebony)

Sales outlet - Near Mekri Circle
Service Center - Outer ring road, near the new BEL office

2. KHT Motors

Sales Outlet - Fiat Caffe near EGL, 2nd outlet near Kundalahalli/Graphite India Signal
Service Center - Opp to Shantinikethan near ITPL

3. Vecto Motors

Sales Outlet - Singasandra Hosur Road, 2nd one coming in a couple of months on Mysore Road near the VW showroom
Service Center - Singasandra Hosur Road, 2nd one near RV College/Global Village.
Well, yes be in Bangalore but people in other cities are not so lucky! Also the Fiat dealers dont stay for long. Every now and then there is a new dealer in new location.
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Old 1st August 2014, 12:37   #1769
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Re: 2014 Fiat Punto Evo : A Close Look

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Originally Posted by PrideRed View Post
Well, yes be in Bangalore but people in other cities are not so lucky! Also the Fiat dealers dont stay for long. Every now and then there is a new dealer in new location.
@Mods: Sorry about the OT again. Kindly move these posts to the Fiat dealership thread if this is deemed not relevant to this thread.

I am responding with no intent to argue, Fiat dealers not stay for long? Are you talking about from the TATA - FIAT tie up and then going solo? Want to understand your point of view on the instability of dealerships

TATA - FIAT alliance broke for whatever reasons and due to this breakup, quite a few existing TATA dealers took up the Fiat dealerships and the new ones too have come in. This applies to a few other cities too, the ones I can recollect is Bangalore and Pune. So the longetivity is not the question. The location might have changed due the change in alliance or due to financial or operational reasons for the dealership.

This Fiat standalone network exercise started in the beginning of 2013 and as far as I am aware of, none of the current ones have shut down. Also dont you think, 1.5 years is too short to evaluate how many dealers will stay for how long when the exercise is still on to expand the delearships. The reason you see new dealerships is because Fiat is expanding.

Probably your question of "Fiat dealers not staying for long" from 2013 would be more relevant say 5 years down the line. Unless there is a legal/disciplinary issue, in a short span of time neighter the manufacturer or the dealerhips will want to shutdown a dealership after investing time and money in bringing an one up at the first place. This applies to any dealership from any manufacturer.
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Old 1st August 2014, 12:43   #1770
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Re: 2014 Fiat Punto Evo : A Close Look

Quote:
Originally Posted by nkrishnap View Post
@Mods: Sorry about the OT, could not resist this one

I believe this was more of a sarcasm.

From your profile, your location is Bangalore. The details about Fiat dealerships and services centers in Bangalore. 4 Sales outlets and 4 service centers are present as of today and Bangalore accounts for around 15-20% of the overall sales of Fiat India. The Bangalore network seems reasonable.

1. Aadya Motors (Ebony)

Sales outlet - Near Mekri Circle
Service Center - Outer ring road, near the new BEL office

2. KHT Motors

Sales Outlet - Fiat Caffe near EGL, 2nd outlet near Kundalahalli/Graphite India Signal
Service Center - Opp to Shantinikethan near ITPL

3. Vecto Motors

Sales Outlet - Singasandra Hosur Road, 2nd one coming in a couple of months on Mysore Road near the VW showroom
Service Center - Singasandra Hosur Road, 2nd one near RV College/Global Village.
Correction, the one in Mysore road already started operating 2 months back. Got my 60K kms service done there! Wonderful job they did. :They Rule:
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