[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

PS: A few 2015 Manufactured Punto Abarths are available, I believe only white color is available

Ohh dear! What a sorry state of affairs.

It seriously looks like the End of road for the Punto Abarth.
Who will buy 2015 manufactured vehicles after 2 years of production?

[i74js]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

Ohh dear! What a sorry state of affairs.

It seriously looks like the End of road for the Punto Abarth.
Who will buy 2015 manufactured vehicles after 2 years of production?

What if you get it in 5 Lac or may be 6?

Sounds too good to be true, but if Fiat is calling it a day in India (I would not believe it though), such pricing to clear the inventory is quite possible.

New Linea 125 and Abarth 145 are great turbo petrol machines and are quite reliable (at least for Linea I can say for sure as I have one in extended family and nothing beyond regular service has been carried out for that beauty since it was purchased and is now close to 70 K ODO).

There is no harm in calling up the dealer, checking about availability and sharing the magic purchase price () with them, if they call back - you have your dream machine else look for alternate options.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

From what I have seen, Fiat has not manufactured many Puntos or Lineas in 2017. Seems like the curtain is really down on the Punto/Linea. Current stock position is as below.

2016 manufactured cars - 190

PS: A few 2015 Manufactured Punto Abarths are available, I believe only white color is available

Whatever strategy Fiat makes for India, it will invariably fail after initial hoopla thanks to poor execution and they achieve the inevitable.

A quick update, a few cars have been manufactured in March 2017, more of the Punto Evos though. Production is in trickle mode, nothing produced in mass. May be they are streamlining the inventory (of whatever little number it is)

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

A quick update, a few cars have been manufactured in March 2017, more of the Punto Evos though. Production is in trickle mode, nothing produced in mass. May be they are streamlining the inventory (of whatever little number it is)

Probably a sensible decision from Fiat.
They manufactured lots and then most of these remained in inventory, and later sold at huge discounts. I have personally seen people around buying Puntos (mostly 1.2 petrol) OTR at ex-showroom prices.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

Probably a sensible decision from Fiat.
They manufactured lots and then most of these remained in inventory, and later sold at huge discounts. I have personally seen people around buying Puntos (mostly 1.2 petrol) OTR at ex-showroom prices.

Bang on. The stock list for 2017 says it all.

Total - 84 vehicles

Punto 1.2 Active - 50 (white 32, black 8, red 10)

Punto 1.2 Dynamic - 11 (Bronzo Tan 6, Black 1, Silver 2, White 2)

Punto 1.3 MJD Active - 20 (white 9, Silver 4, Magnesio Grey 6, Red 1)

Punto 1.3 MJD Emotion - 4 (Magnesio grey 4)

No 2017 Linea (both Tjet and MJD) manufactured/in stock.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by invidious

This is a smart move - kill the brand which was on life-support anyway and invest in a brand you own but is unknown to the Indian market. If Jeep is used exclusively for SUVs, they can use either Chrysler or Dodge for their sedans and hatchback offerings.

They did gamely try to revive the brand, but at some point you must know it isn't happening. Their cars were like tanks and when the Linea was launched in that segment, it was eons ahead of anything the competition offered.

Poor Fiat.
Such lovely cars. So Solid and tough.
Let down by market perception and their own total apathy in trying to reassure consumers.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by i74js

What if you get it in 5 Lac or may be 6?

Sounds too good to be true, but if Fiat is calling it a day in India (I would not believe it though), such pricing to clear the inventory is quite possible.

Would be too good to be true.
That would be possible only if Fiat pulls the Plug officially abruptly in India.

You will get an Abarth for cheap, but what about spares?

[i74js]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

Would be too good to be true.
That would be possible only if Fiat pulls the Plug officially abruptly in India.

You will get an Abarth for cheap, but what about spares?

You are making wrong expectations here. You want something for 5 Lac and also all the warranties and after sales !

This gem is for enthusiasts and part availability can be managed when the car is getting produced internationally. The car is quite reliable otherwise and the forum members can also confirm it.

I am managing my Ford Escort 1997 model without any support from Ford; it was a Mahindra Ford JV when bought.

[kapilsharma80]

I believe Fiat will not exit like this. They are in a better position (in terms of dealerships/sku-though repetitive)than what they were during Palio/petra end of life. At that time they were into dumps and squibs and same news of their exit was doing rounds in the market.

Besides, their dealers have no such information.

Exit will cause harm to the brand image of Jeep as well which is at a nascent stage of settling down. Fiat will hang in there to give strong platform fir Jeep.

Maybe they will bring in a couple of models once BSVi kicks in.

[M00M]

whats the status of the abarth 595 ? is it selling ? or is it discontinued ?

[vipul_singh]

Not sure if most adds any value to the discussion, but just seeing the title "strategy revealed" seems odd now.

What is the strategy? And is it even relevant anymore? This thread has begun to sound like it belongs to a long gone era.

Anyhow, as you were, folks...

[carwatcher]

The title of the thread sounds more promising than a Sherlock Holmes case story.

Its a well known fact that Fiat manufactures their cars in batches and then sell the inventory in anywhere between 1-3 years.

I have been reading on T-BHP that Fiat shutting shop since so many years that I am surprised that its been FIVE years since I bought my Linea T-Jet and in those five years, Linea T-Jet was discontinued, relaunched, again relaunched as facelift and now Linea 125 also has been launched.

When they introduced Oceanic Blue colour, there was good number of advertisements were put on TV and Newspapers.

When T-Jet was relaunched there were sufficient ads.

When Linea Classic was launched, the ads were posted in Newspapers in reasonable quantity.

When Abarth was launched, there was proper noise and media drive on BIC, etc. was done. Also TV ads were present.

I am not mentioning Avventura or Urban Cross which were also launched recently.

They announced that they will open 100 dealerships. But it seems many got closed as quickly as they opened. At least they opened one in Mumbai.

So I won't blame Fiat much for lack of effort.

They launched the proper real hot-hatch and not half baked products.

They seem to know where they stand and therefore are not risking more as during last few years, no effort from their side is been rewarded as desired.

Look at Ford, they launched VFM Figo and Aspire but are not selling in good numbers and at the same time has also diluted the Ford's imaged of strongly built cars.

On one hand we demand 1.6 L Engine while on Hot hatch thread its been discussed that we don't really need hot hatches but high mileage cars.

I really would like to know what is being discussed in Fiat India's board meetings ? That would justify the thread title.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by M00M

whats the status of the abarth 595 ? is it selling ? or is it discontinued ?

I believer there are about 10 cars at the plant sitting and basking in the sunshine everyday.

Originally Posted by carwatcher

I really would like to know what is being discussed in Fiat India's board meetings ? That would justify the thread title.

Probably, they are discussing about how to screw the Compass's pricing and ensure even that will be a dud. Post that how many version of compass to launch.

PS: Sarcasm was very much intended for FCA.

[kapilsharma80]

As we discuss Fiat's lifeline, i got this sms today:

[S2!!!]

For all those who have their eyes on the white 2015 Abarth Punto, the max discount available is approximately 1.70L i.e. 11.46L on-road Mumbai (-) 1.70L = Rs 9.76L.

Before you get excited and jump out of your seat to head to the Fiat showroom, please realize that it's a 2015 manufactured unit of a model that's not received a very favorable response from the market. It'll be a depreciation disaster at the time of resale as its already 2 years old, even before it leaves the showroom. I'm only interested to take the plunge if I'm getting compensated for the depreciation hit upfront. Some might call this price a steal, but in my opinion at least a lakh more off is a good deal.

Opinions?