[amtak]

Every time FIAT fails, I feel good; not because I hate the company, but because of the fact that the resale value of FIAT cars go down and I am a big fan of FIAT; I am still in love with the Palio 1.6 GTX/Sports and still looking to buy a sparingly used piece. Same goes with Punto/Linea.

On the flip side, I feel bad for those who have put in their hard earned money to buy Fiat cars as they know that they wont fetch a very good resale value.

All the best Fiat and Fiat lovers, happy shopping!

[amit]

Originally Posted by rameshnanda

- The service centers within these dealerships will be another important touch point for consumers, since the goal is to replicate international service standards in India.

International service standard's of Fiat? I hope not! Fiat is notorious all over the world for dealership's and service back up's. Even in Italy, they fare pretty poorly on these front's.

[vb-saan]

I can see quite a bit of optimism and hope here, which is not bad.

Fiat’s presence may get better with these expansion plans, but I don’t foresee them as a volume seller. At the max, they can reach to Ford’s level (in India), provided they bring in true mass market car – something like a basic Panda, or even cheaper (read market-specific).

Independent sales and service centres are a welcome move, but will it have a huge impact on the customer experience? If so, other European brands present in India, with independent ASCs should be doing a stellar job in this aspect, which is not the case. But yes, there could be some positives when it comes to quality.

I am more interested to see the brand’s health internationally. In this era of vanishing brands, I hope they do good enough business to keep their iconic brand names afloat (Fiat, Alfa Romeo etc.).

[rameshnanda]

Originally Posted by amit

International service standard's of Fiat? I hope not! Fiat is notorious all over the world for dealership's and service back up's. Even in Italy, they fare pretty poorly on these front's.

amit, even now I am a satisfied customer (not really great but not bad) of their service. I like to be more optimistic after this statement than cursing them for whatever they do.

Let us hope that they have better time ahead in India.

[sunnyside]

I don't understand the hue & cry on a.s.s, till date I haven't faced any issues and I can't point a difference between maruti and fiat a.s.s (i own both)

Its an established fact that linea & punto are one of the best offerings in india today. Only chink in the armour is resale value, but I feel that if you want to keep a car for 7-8 years then you can't go wrong with fiat, but if you don't keep a car more than 4 years than honda, vw... Are the way to go..

Now with new strategy in place I wish fiat garners greater volumes and dealers are putting their faith in the management, in ahmedabad aspi cars is soon opening exclusive outlet for sales & service.

[nim_peter]

The plan looks good, hope it ends FIAT's dry spell. It has become more like Sachin's dry spell these days. We all know he is a quality player and when he goes thru difficult times, a few might call for an axe and a few are optimistic. When he does score a century eventually, everyone is happy and celebrating. Expecting the same century from FIAT to lift our spirits. Oh yea, Sachin was also the brand Ambassador for Fiat Palio Maybe they share something.

Anyway coming back to topic, FIAT's A.S.S’s only problem is the inventory/spares. I don't see any other problem with their service. They take the car on time, deliver it on time, spares are reasonably priced and they have knowledgeable chaps as well. They just need to improve their inventory, not sure what plans they have for that.

And finally, if Linea 1.6 MJD comes, it is the first thing on my list, add it to my 1.8 GTX, it is a dream come true.

[Speed Pujari]

Originally Posted by amtak

On the flip side, I feel bad for those who have put in their hard earned money to buy Fiat cars as they know that they wont fetch a very good resale value.

All the best Fiat and Fiat lovers, happy shopping!

No offence amtak, but fiat owners or for that matter any hard-core enthusiast do not consider car as an investment (apology for stereotyping). They are very much aware of the resale value fact. It is a choice to be made.

Even if Fiat outperform other brands in India, one will be deprived of owning one forever if they have resale as primary consideration.

To give this logic a test, try picking up a random immaculately maintained GTX in traffic and offer exorbitant resale to the owner. His reply will clear all the doubts.
Do the same test on any korean/Jap owners and see the difference.

Originally Posted by nim_peter

Anyway coming back to topic, FIAT's A.S.S’s only problem is the inventory/spares. I don't see any other problem with their service. They take the car on time, deliver it on time, spares are reasonably priced and they have knowledgeable chaps as well. They just need to improve their inventory, not sure what plans they have for that.

And finally, if Linea 1.6 MJD comes, it is the first thing on my list, add it to my 1.8 GTX, it is a dream come true.

So coming back to the spare problem, here is my latest experience. My Linea is with kht motors right now for third free service. There was some kinda noise in front due to which the mounting pad was to be replaced. They had the part but they made some illogical comments such as it is not covered under extended warranty etc. I called up Fiat customer care and they said it will be taken care of, not to worry.

Similarly, I gave my Palio to kht 10 days back when the brake fluid got leaked. They repaired it and replaced the flywheel, and to add up some moolah to bill they replaced the timing belt etc. 9k bill, fine but the brakes were not engaging properly. I followed the protocol of calling Fiat customer care again and this time I started getting numerous calls from KHT motors. They fixed the brakes like new. But in all this mele I never faced any parts issue. The customer care guy also assured me that there is no part availability issue even for my 9 years old Palio.

[nim_peter]

Originally Posted by Speed Pujari

Similarly, I gave my Palio to kht 10 days back when the brake fluid got leaked. They repaired it and replaced the flywheel, and to add up some moolah to bill they replaced the timing belt etc. 9k bill, fine but the brakes were not engaging properly. I followed the protocol of calling Fiat customer care again and this time I started getting numerous calls from KHT motors. They fixed the brakes like new. But in all this mele I never faced any parts issue. The customer care guy also assured me that there is no part availability issue even for my 9 years old Palio.

Wow, totally opposite scenario here in Pune, no parts availability, but good service. Can't comment on warranty problems as I haven't been on that side.

Any idea what state of tune the 1.6 MJD will be launched 105 or 120? The Indian versions are always the lower tuned one

[Speed Pujari]

Originally Posted by nim_peter

Wow, totally opposite scenario here in Pune, no parts availability, but good service. Can't comment on warranty problems as I haven't been on that side.

Any idea what state of tune the 1.6 MJD will be launched 105 or 120? The Indian versions are always the lower tuned one

No idea, though I always ask this question from the marketing manager at Tata dealerships. As a guess they should be launching the 105 to compete with Vento. As compared to Vento they may not have to fight in the engine front, but all that will matter is the features and goodies.
Rain sensing wipers, GPS, auto head lights, 16" alloys with 205/55 tyres, and 'optimal' quality plastics and a decent kmpl may steal away some numbers from Vento.
120 hp may not attract volumes.

Remember they lost opportunity once during the highly anticipated Linea launch when customers thronged with expectation and 11L in their pocket, but all of them came back disappointed. They lost their first impression, now adding bells and whistles like rain sensors etc. will not help.

I honestly don't know what strategy will help them, its an interesting wait and watch to see some innovative marketing strategy.

People are excited about Abarth the same they were for T-Jet a couple of years back. There was a scene that it will sell, it flopped big times.

[nim_peter]

It will be good if they can bring both the tunes, like the normal Punto and Punto 90hp. Again pricing has to be spot on, anywhere near 12-13 lakhs, we have the New Cruze with 166 PS . A sub 10 lakh pricing would be like a mini-cruze.

[rsjaurr]

Originally Posted by daredeviljpr

I totally agree with you. I own a Punto since 2009 and have no issues with the After Sales and Service and I have tried two different Service centers in Pune. All issues have been resolved to my satisfaction. Come April 1, 2013 and Fiat will have it's own Dealers and Service centers which may provide even better experience.

I am upgrading to Linea 1.3 Emotion within a month and have been pressured from all sides not to buy a Fiat. No one has been able to provide a satisfactory reason for not buying a Fiat just vague responses such as not a good car, pathetic service, non availability of parts etc. I am quite happy with my Punto and find no reason to shift away from Fiat.
.

Being a Linea owner myself I agree with you on both statements. 3rd free service is due shortly and during both previous free services and once minor repair work I never faced any problem. Infact I have owned Getz also since 2005 and so far I would rate Fiat's A.S.S. far better and cheaper than Hyundai. Couple of times my Getz was not repaired even after 6-7days and it was always expensive.

Regarding the public perception about Fiat cars it seems Indian Public have just made up their mind that Fiat cars are not good enough to own and drive.Example-Once I was traveling with my fellow doctor colleague in my new Linea and when I asked him about Fiat he just said these are not good cars.But when I asked him to explain it bit further he had no clue why he said so and later he admitted he just heard it from someone and actually he was once very much interested in Uno but could not buy it.

The Indian car market is still very immature and most dont even know anything about bhp,engine capacity,tire size etc and they just follow someone else to buy their own car.This is the reason we see so many Maruti and Tata cars(no offense to their owners).

So Fiat not only needs to build brand image among masses but needs mass volume as well to sustain in India for long time.They have made a good start last year itself by breaking away from Tata and now announcing the launch of expensive but quality cars but they will also need few under 5-6lacs cars to get some volume and confidence.

[vigneshA]

Originally Posted by rsjaurr

The Indian car market is still very immature and most dont even know anything about bhp,engine capacity,tire size etc and they just follow someone else to buy their own car.This is the reason we see so many Maruti and Tata cars(no offense to their owners).
.

Are you saying that you need people with more knowledge to have market maturity? I think these two are disconnected. Also not that most people in Western world would knowthe bhp or tire size - but still the market is mature?.
Most of my friends in US would want to buy a Toyota or Honda simply because of the trouble free reputation. Only very few ventured out to other brands. I think Indians are a little risk-averse while our western counterparts are more enterprising and enterpreunial and would like to try out a few things. Again in India - bad word spreads fast and good image takes a while to build. For many car is a bigger investment and hence they want to have self-assurance. This assurance is also provided by the number of vehicles on the road - which indicates that they at least seem to run and have facilities where they can get corrected . I dont see anything grossly wrong with that.

Myself - while i was sold on Punto after driving it, my collegue who had two Fiat cars to his credit Uno & Palio told me to look away from them and i listened. This was a year back. While things may have changed bottom-up, the perception still needs to be built and in India this takes a while to get it up.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by vigneshA

I think Indians are a little risk-averse while our western counterparts are more enterprising and enterpreunial and would like to try out a few things. Again in India - bad word spreads fast and good image takes a while to build. For many car is a bigger investment and hence they want to have self-assurance. This assurance is also provided by the number of vehicles on the road - which indicates that they at least seem to run and have facilities where they can get corrected . I dont see anything grossly wrong with that.

Spot on regarding Indians being risk-averse. I guess that is probably because we tend to be more concious about saving for future than most folks across the globe. If we don't do it, that would also be interpreted as immature incase something goes wrong in future.

Originally Posted by rsjaurr

The Indian car market is still very immature and most dont even know anything about bhp,engine capacity,tire size etc and they just follow someone else to buy their own car.This is the reason we see so many Maruti and Tata cars(no offense to their owners).

One of the biggest reasons I see on why Indian car market is so focused on the VFM aspect is the cost of ownership of a car in India (indirectly due to the taxes and duties on the new car as well as the rising fuel costs) when compared to the other markets like US where it is much cheaper. Also, thanks to the roads and infrastructure, it is much more difficult to maintain a car well in India when compared to US. This means you have to pay a lot more to buy a car in India than in US and can expect only much lesser trouble-free usage period from it than in US.

I wouldn't think of the Indian market as immature. They are very much sensible and aware of what is going on around and has enough sense not to expect these factors to change overnight. Most cars that were designed keeping the Indian customers in mind have fared well here. I read in Amaze review that Honda specifically tested i-DTec for the poorer quality of diesel that should be expected in India. This is where customers trust Maruti/Hyundai/Tata more, as they know these cars were designed knowing the conditions in India. Same goes with other aspects like GC etc.

[nkrishnap]

The Honda i-DTec is being tested for bad quality fuel, while the Multijet is already tried and tested in India.

For FIAT its the baggage than anything else that is hurting it more. The other part about moving away from TATA, they have already done that.

FIAT has a steep path ahead to get rid of the baggage. More people complain without owning the car which ever brand it is. Huh!

[Vroom barabar!]

I like the Fiat Viaggo. Hope it comes soon. Also, I drool over the Punto Evo Abarth every time I see a picture of it. Fiat bring them on soon!