[tacho9000]

Yes it is indeed that same Garodia group which had those Daewoo dealership. I didn't know about this thing. I'll be waiting for the review on their dealership before I can even think about plonking my money.

[KarthikK]

After Delhi and Pune, the third Fiat Caffe opens tomorrow in Bangalore . I deliberately took a de-tour on the way back from office, passed by the Fiat Caffe and took some snaps from outside. It is located next to Embassy Golf Links, Intermediate ring road, Domlur.





I tried entering the Caffe, but some finishing of paintwork and interiors was going on, and the painters shooed me away when they saw me with a mobile camera in hand. From outside, I could see the proprietors directing and making some last minute touch-ups to the interiors.

There seemed to be a cafe hangout area with seating on the first floor of the same area, connected by a spiral staircase. They had already taken a Linea inside, and were trying to get a Red Punto inside too. I saw a white Fiat 500 outside. Maybe that too will go into the showroom by tomorrow.

[nkrishnap]

This one is going live tomorrow with a couple RJ's doing this radio show from there. But no opening ceremony like Vecto or Aadya for this even being a caffe really puzzles me.

Parking will be an issue here for sure.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

This one is going live tomorrow with a couple RJ's doing this radio show from there. But no opening ceremony like Vecto or Aadya for this even being a caffe really puzzles me.

Parking will be an issue here for sure.

Yeah, I wonder why no opening cermony with big invitees. I observed some workers there blowing balloons, mostly for tomorrow's inauguration.

+1 on the Parking issue. This is a really bad area as far as car parking is concerned. There is no basement for this building either, so no parking below the Caffe. Just some 5-6 cars can be parked in front of the caffe. They have to organize valet parking for all Fiat owners who want to pay a visit to this Caffe .

[asdon]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Yeah, I wonder why no opening cermony with big invitees. I observed some workers there blowing balloons, mostly for tomorrow's inauguration.

+1 on the Parking issue. This is a really bad area as far as car parking is concerned. There is no basement for this building either, so no parking below the Caffe. Just some 5-6 cars can be parked in front of the caffe. They have to organize valet parking for all Fiat owners who want to pay a visit to this Caffe .

Any idea what time they plan to open?

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by asdon

Any idea what time they plan to open?

I believe its at 11.30 am.

[arpanjha]

Originally Posted by arjab

Phoolbagan would mean, i assume, at Beliaghata Main Road, where there is a temple on the road right?

I don't know whether this is the same Garodia, but there was one notorious Garodia Distributors or some such named outfit quite some time back in Kolkata. They were in the auto workshop business having started with Daewoo and then switched to Tata Motors. Their Tata workshop was located behind Ruby General Hospital area.
In fact, according to a close friend of mine, who was responsible for Tata Motor's after sales operations in Kolkata region, Tata Motors was on track to de-recognise Garodia. I do not know whether finally that happened or not. Then the reasons cited were many, starting from inefficiencies at the workshop, customer billing issues, spare parts issues, poor customer experience etc, etc.
If this is the same party/outfit, maybe it is worth checking out its antecedents before you put your hard earned money on the new metal.

I heard(read) on another social network forum that it really is the same garodia guys who owned the daewoo showroom previously. I am now really skeptical after reading your post. At last I was hoping for good service for my punto. But the company in their recent campaigns are stressing a lot on availability of spares, good after sales etc. Do we have no hope of actually enjoying those?

[shineshine]

I also have doubts with the sincerity of many new dealers of FIAT, Especially the FIAT Showroom which MOHANDAS motors has started in Trivandrum. When compared with other showrooms in Trivandrum, most of the 2 wheeler showroom betters the new FIAT showroom in terms of space, and features. For me its a total disappointment

They have a very big showroom for TATA cars and I believe that any sales from the so called new 'FIAT showroom' would be just a bonus for them.

[KarthikK]

Fiat will be launching a new Fiat Caffe in Bangalore sometime in May 2013.

What you'll like:

• Authentic hot Italian coffee/espresso and hot Italian cars up the WOW quotient and WOO quotient.
• Breaking their tradition of the past 5 years of Tata-Fiat association, there are no Indicabs or Sumo taxis / drivers found anywhere near the facility.
• Mature, upmarket interior decor and ambience makes you get an instant flair of all things Italian.
• Lots of cozy places to relax and chill-out inside the lounge-caffe with a cup of coffee and good company.
• Playstation with racing games for enthusiasts to enjoy some virtual racing. Yes, those cars won't have 'niggles' to worry about.
• Fiat Merchandise is now readily available over the counter, even though most of their spare parts are not.
• Tons of options to impress your better half or family or whoever else dares to equate Fiats to Premier Padminis again.

What you won't:

• The Caffe is indistinguishable from regular Fiat showrooms, at least from the outside.
• A cup of cappuccino takes more time to arrive here than a by-two cup of Filter Kaapi at other local restaurants
• Exorbitant pricing of coffee as well as merchandise. Fiat makes sure customers use their credit/debit cards compulsorily.
• Lacklustre menu card with very less variety on offer. Competitors like CCD and Barista offer lots of pastries and short-eats too.
• Although Fiat cars are displayed at the Caffe, they are not actively sold or serviced here. Aam aadmi customers will be confused about what to do after entering the place. A car showroom serving coffee and snacks?
• Parking space is a huge constraint in front of the Caffe. Most car owners will be forced to hire cabs or come by bikes.
• The caffe can get claustrophobic and noisy when the place gets crowded. That may not happen regularly though, considering it is Fiat Caffe and not Maruti Caffe / Hyundai Caffe.
• The large LCD screens inside don't play UEFA Soccer matches or Formula 1. They instead air Arnab Goswami's "Tonight at 9" on Times Now.

NOTE: Click any picture to open a larger higher-resolution version in a new window

Sorry to be late for April fool!
Hopefully the mods don't mind a light-hearted spoof of Team-BHP's official reviews' opening lines. I borrowed that style and adapted it to a Caffe preview review, just for fun .

Jokes apart, a few of us BHPians had been to the yet-to-be-launched Fiat Caffe yesterday on Intermediate Ring road, Domlur. The Caffe is located very close to Embassy Golf Links entrance on the same side. It is set to be launched in mid-May, but yesterday they had some pre-launch promo event going on, so we just decided to pay the place a visit and post some initial impressions here for the benefit of others.

It was a warm Saturday afternoon, and the caffe was moderately crowded with some curious onlookers and some serious fans. There was a local radio station staging some event and interviewing visitors (we were victims too, more on that later).

Scouting for car parking - the very first and most important issue here


After we found parking at an adjacent ramp, we walked towards the caffe entrance



Car parking is on first-come-first-serve basis on this ramp, as well as in front of the showroom. Total parking capacity = 10 cars max *frowns*. Really, what were they thinking??!!



Car parking in front of the Caffe entrance



Entering the Fiat Caffe



The place was abuzz with sales staff, visitors and radio Emcees conducting some events



A Punto also was on display with the Linea



A window neatly displaying Fiat merchandise on offer for enthusiasts (more on that later)



There was a Playstation area for those interested in killing time playing virtual racing games.





Some snaps of the merchandise on offer:

Fiat badges for the front grill, boot badge and alloy wheel caps. If any of you have these logos flicked from your car and couldn't get them at your local service centre due to "no stock", you know where to head to *lol*



Coffee mugs, key chains, pens, watches, scale models, etc









They even had nice Fiat themed T-shirts, caps, sweatshirts and jackets on offer.



Over to the Caffe area now :
Apart from this main hall, there was a small staircase and an elevator to the first floor



Since this place is still partly under construction, we chose the staircase instead





The stairs lead to the caffe seating area. The place is still being done up, so it was not in full launch-time spec at this time. The staff are planning to do up the entire interiors in red, white and glass theme.



The seating area is nice and airy, and is being spruced up to include nice Fiat-Alfa-Ferrari history information with posters on the walls. There will also be a LCD screen here very soon.



The passage from the entrance leads to the coffee-bar area



The counter at the coffee-bar is still being done up with the Italian tricolor theme. It will soon include Italian car trivia too.



From the caffe seating area, you can look down and spot the cars on display. Once the caffe is up and running, there will be an Alfa Romeo and a vintage Fiat 500 too, according to the showroom head honchos.



We were served some pastries and soft drinks by the hospitable staff, and after that we happened to meet the Fiat head for sales, all India (forgot his name). He spoke very nicely (and diplomatically!! when he knew were from team-bhp) but obviously had sealed lips and gave out no information about future launches of Abarth/Jeep/Fiat, instead telling us to "wait and watch the plans falling into place from now on" . They are planning to aggressively attack the advertising space and building service network strength in the next few months.

He mentioned that the T-Jet will be manufactured in April/May and will be formally re-launched in and available from June. That should put to rest all speculations about launch postponed / cancelled, etc.

We had a funny interview with a local radio station RJ annoying us to no end with stupid questions. Some of the questions deserve to go on the "Quirky comments by non-petrolhead friends" thread, so I'll skip that part here.


Leaving the soon-to-be-launched Fiat-Caffe. The visitors were not all Fiat owners. There was a Cruze



And there was a beemer dropping in too!



I brought home this 'affordable' piece of memorabilia for now, since the caffe didn't have card facility up and running yet.


I'll try visiting the place next month and see how the fully done-up place looks.

[ampere]

The Fiat caffes should be their signature outlets for sales. One will not just walk to such a cafe to have coffee. If he does, he will have good times too; being amongst familiar territory and enjoying a coffee. But that does not serve Fiat well. They need to make sure that the visit actually translate to sales. Is that not the intention ?

How are these cafes doing in other cities?

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by ampere

The Fiat caffes should be their signature outlets for sales. One will not just walk to such a cafe to have coffee. If he does, he will have good times too; being amongst familiar territory and enjoying a coffee. But that does not serve Fiat well. They need to make sure that the visit actually translate to sales. Is that not the intention ?

How are these cafes doing in other cities?

Yes, from what the guys there told us, it will become a full fledged sales outlet of Fiat once the operations kickstart. This Caffe is the Fiat-exclusive showroom of what was previously KHT motors next to Cosmos mall, Whitefield.

For now, it is just a coffee shop with cars parked inside. The concept of an automobile themed cafe is still relatively new here in India, and may not be accepted well initially by the general car customer community. We'll need to wait and see how these gimmicks translate to sales. I'm not too hopeful of that though. Sticking to the ground basics of selling cars will always turn out to be better in the long run. All these are okay as add-ons once the basics are in place.

[nkrishnap]

A nice report there Karthik. Though I did not carry my camera this time, clicked a couple of snaps from the mobile. Here with the pics.













A pointers on the Caffe/showroom.

1. The Italian Coffee will be served, but not available right now.
2. The parking can get insufficient probably during weekends or peak hours.
3. The showroom floor area can accommodate a display of 3 cars.
4. Non alcoholic beverages along with Italian coffee would be served once the Caffe goes officially operational.
5. They are currently taking bookings from the Caffe unofficially
6. The sit out area is quite good, though would have preferred lesser red seats to make it comfortable to move around.
7. The IPL matches would be aired in the Caffe, probably after IPL the F1 or Motogp could be aired.
8. Fiat Merchandise was available for display and a few on sale in very little quantity
9. The service would go operational as per the sales guy (cant recollect his name) from May 2nd. He went on to say they would have started on 1st of May itself if it was not a Holiday
10. The Caffe would be inaugurated when Mr. Adit returns from his overseas trip. So expecting this to go official in the 2nd week of May.
11. The TV screen size is too small in the lounge at the first floor.

Mr Nithin Swamy, Karnataka Territory Sales and marketing lead (We had met up earlier during my Linea purchase) introduced me and Karthik to Mr. Sanjay (if I recollect his name correctly), the Marketing head for Fiat and over the discussion a few updates that we received.

1. The Tjet production would kick off from May 2013 and the cars should be available at the showroom in the first week of June
2. A person who was in-charge of service network at Hyundai has been hired to take of the after sales network.
3. They are working out the pricing for the Abarth while the testing is going on. On question when is the expected launch date, he mentioned, we will hear it soon, how soon is anybody's guess.
4. The current ads and frequency will continue to build the brand awareness
5. Currently 51 sales outlets are live and by the year end they will have 80 service centers pan India and the expansion would continue in the next year.
6. Soon, all the dealerships in Bangalore would have accessories and merchandise available.
7. Currently Bangalore is doing 80-90 cars a month and they are expecting to touch a good 150-200 cars a few months down the line. Hope they achieve the targets. With 3 dealers I see this settling around 120-140 units a month which itself is difficult with the current product line up.
8. The reason why the DMS with prior service history is not ready, the discussion on who bears the cost for the data transfer is going on.
9. The Karnataka and Kerala market are currently generating good numbers for Fiat and they are consolidate it even further with the dealerships and service centers going live.

On the Radio show that was happening there, the less said the better (though no complaints about the songs played). A small interview with RJ Soujanya was the sad bit of the whole experience.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Fiat will be launching a new Fiat Caffe in Bangalore sometime in May 2013.

What you'll like:

[*]Authentic hot Italian coffee/espresso and hot Italian cars up the WOW quotient and WOO quotient.[*]Breaking their tradition of the past 5 years of Tata-Fiat association, there are no Indicabs or Sumo taxis / drivers found anywhere near the facility.[*]Mature, upmarket interior decor and ambience makes you get an instant flair of all things Italian.[*]Lots of cozy places to relax and chill-out inside the lounge-caffe with a cup of coffee and good company.[*]Playstation with racing games for enthusiasts to enjoy some virtual racing. Yes, those cars won't have 'niggles' to worry about.[*]Fiat Merchandise is now readily available over the counter, even though most of their spare parts are not.[*]Tons of options to impress your better half or family or whoever else dares to equate Fiats to Premier Padminis again.

What you won't:[*] The Caffe is indistinguishable from regular Fiat showrooms, at least from the outside.[*] A cup of cappuccino takes more time to arrive here than a by-two cup of Filter Kaapi at other local restaurants[*] Exorbitant pricing of coffee as well as merchandise. Fiat makes sure customers use their credit/debit cards compulsorily.[*] Lacklustre menu card with very less variety on offer. Competitors like CCD and Barista offer lots of pastries and short-eats too.[*] Although Fiat cars are displayed at the Caffe, they are not actively sold or serviced here. Aam aadmi customers will be confused about what to do after entering the place. A car showroom serving coffee and snacks?[*] Parking space is a huge constraint in front of the Caffe. Most car owners will be forced to hire cabs or come by bikes.[*] The caffe can get claustrophobic and noisy when the place gets crowded. That may not happen regularly though, considering it is Fiat Caffe and not Maruti Caffe / Hyundai Caffe.[*] The large LCD screens inside don't play UEFA Soccer matches or Formula 1. They instead air Arnab Goswami's "Tonight at 9" on Times Now.

NOTE: Click any picture to open a larger higher-resolution version in a new window

Sorry to be late for April fool!
Hopefully the mods don't mind a light-hearted spoof of Team-BHP's official reviews' opening lines. I borrowed that style and adapted it to a Caffe preview review, just for fun .
piece of memorabilia for now, since the caffe didn't have card facility up and running yet.

KarthikK, rating the review a truly well deserved 5 stars. You've truly set a new benchmark for showroom previews.

Jokes apart (Thought only you can pull it off eh? ) - I'm happy they have merchandise. Its really difficult to get even small things like keychains for fiat cars.

But parking space is a big problem. And what is the intention of this caffe? I truly don't understand.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Jokes apart (Thought only you can pull it off eh? ) - I'm happy they have merchandise. Its really difficult to get even small things like keychains for fiat cars.

But parking space is a big problem. And what is the intention of this caffe? I truly don't understand.

Dont you worry about the merchadise, it should soon be available at all the Fiat dealerships in Bangalore. If you still cant find it, we can get in touch with Mr. Nithin Swamy.

About the parking, the basement shares the parking with the other organizations operating out of the same building, so this can become a mess for the people visiting the showroom and the people driving on the road too as it can can create a mini traffic jam during peak hours.

[floyd.bell]

Excellent Report there, Karthik. Its always a pleasure reading your Reports/Ownership Reviews/Travelogues.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

He mentioned that the T-Jet will be manufactured in April/May and will be formally re-launched in and available from June. That should put to rest all speculations about launch postponed / cancelled, etc.

This is music to my ears Been desperately waiting for the T-Jet to be relaunched.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Yes, from what the guys there told us, it will become a full fledged sales outlet of Fiat once the operations kickstart. This Caffe is the Fiat-exclusive showroom of what was previously KHT motors next to Cosmos mall, Whitefield.

This is music to my ears too I live closeby to this Caffe in Koramangala near Sony World signal. Hoping to book my T-Jet from these guys. Any news of Service Centre being associated with this Caffe.