[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by GTO

Honestly, as an enthusiast, I don't care whether it works or not!

I'm just really, really happy that a high-performance machine could be made available at a price point that is accessible to us. How many of us can spend 50 lakhs on an EVO or 1 crore on an M3?

On the other hand, the Punto Abarth falls within the reach of a lot more people (even though the number is still small, it's 10X more than that for a 50 lakh car).

The Laura TSI didn't work.
The Linea T-Jet didn't work.
The Accord V6 didn't work.
The Palio 1.6 GTX didn't work.
The Getz CRDi didn't work.

As someone who loves 'MORE POWER' (said in the Tim Taylor way), I still celebrated all these cars

Very True. None of the performance cars are a success story in terms of sale numbers. Whether it brings profits to the manufacturer or not, launching these performance cars does one thing for sure, get affordable performance cars.

Hope Abarth becomes a success, which will bring a few more cars such as Golf GTi. More options is always better for the buyers at the end of the day.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by GTO

I'm just really, really happy that a high-performance machine could be made available at a price point that is accessible to us. How many of us can spend 50 lakhs on an EVO or 1 crore on an M3?

I know Evo owners are often asked, with a straight face, why they paid 50L for a Lancer . Can you really imagine the pitying looks you will get for buying a 15L baby-Punto?

The Laura TSI didn't work.
The Linea T-Jet didn't work.
The Accord V6 didn't work.
The Palio 1.6 GTX didn't work.
The Getz CRDi didn't work.

True. I really wonder which hat Fiat puled that 24% number from. I consider myself an enthusiast but when it comes to buying my choices sound really pedestrian to most! There is a big difference between admiring a car and voting with your wallet!

Having said that, it's nice to see world-class cars on our roads. I only wish Fiat paid more attention to solving their existing customers' woes rather than invest in creating niches, which they seem to be doing now.

As someone who loves 'MORE POWER' (said in the Tim Taylor way), I still celebrated all these cars

I feel like Al in all this

[Arkesh]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Very True. None of the performance cars are a success story in terms of sale numbers.
Hope Abarth becomes a success, which will bring a few more cars such as Golf GTi. More options is always better for the buyers at the end of the day.

I somehow feel that Abarth will not be a outright success in terms of sales figures. Fiat too will not bank upon sales figures of the same. It will help a great deal for brand building exercise taking into consideration the likes of abarth, jeep etc. Hope they score good numbers in terms of sales after brand building.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by GTO

The Laura TSI didn't work.
The Linea T-Jet didn't work.
The Accord V6 didn't work.
The Palio 1.6 GTX didn't work.
The Getz CRDi didn't work.

I think the positioning/marketing of Abarth Punto could make a difference. It cannot be positioned as a "family car" that can also provide the driver with some driving fun and satisfaction. That's when all the petrol/diesel, FE criteria etc come in. I think that's probably where the cars above lost out.

Abarth Punto must be marketed as a performance-oriented machine, existing just to provide the owner/driver a fantastic driving experience (families be damned ). This will make the target audience much smaller, but I think it will help the brand better - because only serious buyers will look at it and buy it (and no disgruntled "family man" owners cribbing about low FE on a 180hp car).

[n:CorE]

If they manage to price the Abarth Punto Essess below 15 Lakhs (ex-showroom Mumbai), I am going to be one of the first ones to que up outside the dealership! I will manage to convince my father to get hold of this beauty! Something about Abarth, they are power and performance crazed Italian lunatics, I just love them!

However, this thing on paper is a direct competitor to the Mini Cooper S from the Indian market and that is priced at around 32Lakhs I suppose? I just hope Abarth doesn't go on that side of the pricing scheme and end up with a showroom display piece.

Yes it would mean a 15 lakh rupee punto, yes I would look like a boy racer in it who's trying hard, yes it doesn't have the cute and chic appeal or the pedigree that the mini does. But for the sheer sense of driving pleasure, I think nothing would even come close on the Indian roads today (below the 50L barrier).

I wouldn't care less of what people would think of the car or me in it. Honestly, the specsheet and the styling is absolutely just a wet dream for any Indian car enthusiast. 180bhp 270Nm torque, 0-100 in 7.5, Brembo Brakes, 17' Scorpion Rims, sports suspension, an Electronic diff with Torque Transfer Control (I'm not an engineer alright, I have a faint idea of what that does, but to what extent is it useful I'm not sure of. Still just listening to 'Torque Transfer Control' you know you want that in your life :P). All these rolled into a tiny hatchback, is just a recipe for colossal amounts of fun.

Fiat/Abarth, if you are listening? .. Please get this down to India at a decent price? Please? I'm going to be actively following this thread for more news on the launch of this car in India

[Aceman82]

In all my life i always made the most sensible decisions but if Abarth is launched somewhere around 10L price (with +-15% tolerance) then i would be one of buyers.

Abarth does not makes not make practical sense since it probably won't be fuel efficient, won't be cheap to maintain, those Pirelli's would cost a bomb to replace, we cannot drive those speeds in Indian roads and last issue would be that spare's might not be available 4-5 years down the line like it happens current Palio owners but i really do not care. Probably once in my life i can make a crazy decision.

On the other hand if it ends up costing more than 15 Lakhs and/or comes with just the Linear T-Jet engine with none of the Abarth'y stuff like Racing seats, Brembo brakes, Scorpion alloys then i would not be interested. Depends on what Fiat plans on doing actually.

[nkrishnap]

Had a chat with the sales manager Vecto Motors yesterday. The Punto and Linea will get a minor facelift for both the cars in April.

The Punto interiors would get beige interiors as per the sales rep. Another dealer too confirmed that the upgrades are coming in April.

Hopefully this would be the Classic Linea going forward and Tjet will come in multiple variants including Active version.

[nkrishnap]

Motorbeam mentions that the facelifted Punto and Linea to be launched on April 3rd 2013.

The link to the article is here

[NFS2024]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Had a chat with the sales manager Vecto Motors yesterday. The Punto and Linea will get a minor facelift for both the cars in April.

The Punto interiors would get beige interiors as per the sales rep. Another dealer too confirmed that the upgrades are coming in April.

.

Did you hear anything about when the Punto Evo launch dates?

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by NFS2024

Did you hear anything about when the Punto Evo launch dates?

Evo is slated for next year as an all new Punto. Not sure about the date of launch though. It may come sometime mid 2014 or the last quarter 2014.

[NFS2024]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Evo is slated for next year as an all new Punto. Not sure about the date of launch though. It may come sometime mid 2014 or the last quarter 2014.

Man this is such a downer from Fiat in terms of strategy. I would've assumed that they would launch the Evo in india first thing, when their dealerships are up and running. What's stopping them from doing this I dont understand and how do they expect to sell more Puntos by just bringing in beige until next year?

If they bring Evo next year alongside an all new Punto (which is supposed to come with mjd2), then who will buy Evo? Beats me..!!

[swathyd]

If the TSI laura can be sold from 11.5 lakhs onwards , then definitely the Abarth ought to be priced below 11 lakhs.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by NFS2024

Man this is such a downer from Fiat in terms of strategy. I would've assumed that they would launch the Evo in india first thing, when their dealerships are up and running. What's stopping them from doing this I dont understand and how do they expect to sell more Puntos by just bringing in beige? Beats me..!!

I share a similar view too. If they could launch EVO as the facelift and new interiors there would have been quite a few taker for the EVO, also the exterior parts sharing would have been lot more easier with the upcoming Abarth.

However, by doing this, the general public will pass the abarth as another edition of Punto if both cars look similar.

[NFS2024]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

However, by doing this, the general public will pass the abarth as another edition of Punto if both cars look similar.

Maybe but the dealers need to sell cars from April and one year is too long a time for any dealer to keep waiting for new cars.

I guess Fiat is banking on Beige Punto, Linea, Linea T-jet and Abarth to tide over this year.

[KiloAlpha]

Why does the Fiat Panda not figure on the list of cars for India? I would've thought it was a no-brainer to slot it below the Punto as the volume seller.