[Aditya]

In an attempt to attract more customers, Fiat India has introduced a new offer called 5x5. Under this offer, all Fiat cars, including the Linea, Linea Classic, Punto Evo and Avventura, can be had with a 5-year warranty (including extended warranty), 5-year roadside assistance and five free services. Additionally, five couples have the opportunity to win a trip to Italy. Fiat is also providing a car loan on the Linea with an interest rate of 5.5%.

For a long time, Fiat has been a regular at the bottom of the sales charts. However, while it has not been able to move its vehicles out of the showrooms at a fast rate, it is doing pretty well as an engine supplier. Its 1.3-litre MultiJet diesel engine has been very popular and is used in a number of cars produced by manufacturers such as Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.

With the 5x5 offer, Fiat will certainly be hoping to see an increase the number of people visiting its showrooms.

[Contrapunto]

Its good to see some aggression from Fiat. They have nothing to lose, after all. It would be interesting to see the sales trends over the next two months.

[abhishek46]

5 years warranty is really good, and 5 year free RSA is also a welcome addition. Dont see this translating into sales though!

[sunsetorange]

If only they start selling the Punto with the Tjet engine, I'll buy one right away. I wonder what is stopping them. They are not exactly out of engines or cars. Hope something good happens. .

[DieselAddikt]

I don't think this will ever increase their sales. It is not because of lesser warranty that people are not buying Fiats. They were always at par with competition on warranty.

The thing is that, Indians have totally neglected the brand. I have heard people saying this to new car buyers who have went ahead with the Punto: "Oh my God ! You bought a Fiat ? You should have looked at a Hyundai/Maruti". Hearing this, all the new car excitement fades away from the face of the buyer. And then every small niggle with the car will make the user feel awkward. He will always think "I shouldn't have bought this". It is not that other brands do not have niggles, but niggles with Fiats will always be exaggerated. And Indian market being what it is (trends led mostly by herd mentality), this kind of attitude by the people will never allow even an enthusiast to buy a new Fiat. Even he will think twice before buying one. I don't think anything can save Fiat in India. I love their cars though.

Then again, Fiat service is nothing to write home about. How can they provide 5 years RSA when they don't even have regular service centers in most cities ? I don't see the RSA program working efficiently across India. May be people in some metros can take advantage of it, but not the others. I will be glad if it translates to better sales. I want to see more Fiat cars in India.

[varadha_r]

Yawn. as a t-jet owner, I can tell you, none of this is going to work. people who buy a fiat buy it not for discounts or offers but for driving pleasure.

do focussed marketing - build a social media presence of people who enjoy driving their t-jet cars. Use it to drum up buzz about the true DNA of cars and get people to understand what they offer different from a suzuki or a honda.

fiat are like a royal enfield or a harley davidson - by disconting and doing mindless models like linea classic, they are going to get nowhere.

Junk the basic, toothless models - offer the entire range of mods in fiat dealers and upsell those to the t-jet and punto sports owners. Promos work only for cars in the mass consideration set - if you are niche, you should focus on going the entire distance.

Conduct in city rallies, focus on "exploration" theme based events - reposition the DNA to "driving pleasure". I find it ridiculous that linea is trying to sell itself as the longest car in its class - imagine royal enfield doing that - the heaviest bike in its class. Reeks of lack of ideas and class.

i am sure the marketing geeks at fiat can do better.

[ant_vas]

All we had to do was scroll till the 3rd post to see the pessimism about fiat and their strategy. just 2-3 models, service issues, indian perception about brand fiat, blah blah blah

With so many people singing such "gungaan" about fiat and its strategy no wonder fiat isn't moving up the sales chart.

[DieselAddikt]

Originally Posted by ant_vas

All we had to do was scroll till the 3rd post to see the pessimism about fiat and their strategy. just 2-3 models, service issues, indian perception about brand fiat, blah blah blah

With so many people singing such "gungaan" about fiat and its strategy no wonder fiat isn't moving up the sales chart.

We waited for a long time buddy. No one believes in Fiat. I have personally advised people to buy it. Some are happy that they did. But a handful of people like that will not change the fortunes for Fiat. Call me pessimistic about Fiat in India. I am a converted pessimist.

And no one is against Fiat. So sit and think why people still don't recommend it to anyone ! It is not a hidden CIA agenda. Fiat themselves made people say these things. So accept the reality buddy. Don't get too worked up. Let us just hope Fiat picks up from where they are right now.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by DieselAddikt

"Oh my God ! You bought a Fiat ? You should have looked at a Hyundai/Maruti".

One look at the Avventura's boot / spare wheel mechanics and design would be enough to answer that question. Craziest design ever!

[rsidd]

The "5 year warranty" is 3 full + 2 extended. My 2010 Punto already had 2 full + 2 extended. If they'd extend it another year that would be a nice goodwill gesture but I doubt customers would be persuaded by that versus other factors. (Given I don't care about resale value, I intend to keep the car until it totally wears out, I think I'd buy Punto again -- but the i20 is much more tempting than any option was in 2010. But I'm a small market.) The roadside service sounds nice but the fine print isn't visible. The rest looks like fluff -- the services are annual anyway, unless you drive a lot, and if you want to enter a lottery (ticket to Italy), buy a lottery ticket.

Fiat really needs to sell its cars on their merits, which are substantial.

[grand@rao]

Fiat India should add more RSA then this tempting 5*5 warranty, and increase their service centers across the network.
Many new customers neglect FIAT because they fear the service option available in the local market and some are ever concerned about the resale value as compared to its compositors.
For customers who have already made their mind to get a Fiat Linea this offer might sound as a deal maker (Fiat is providing a car loan on the Linea with an interest rate of 5.5 %.)

[phamilyman]

What about the Fiat group's AMT thats helped Maruti thus far, but not the Fiat?

[eyesice]

I was in Christchurch, NZ during the last month and I was surprised to see that there were so many Swifts running around! The thing that surprised me even more was that there were an equal number of Fiat Puntos ( Grande and Evo ) as well.

[ghodlur]

Thats a welcome move from Fiat.

The 5 reasons for why you like Fiat is apt. What I would be interested to know is the 5 free services which is being advertised by Fiat. Earlier it was just 2 services, by offering 5 services Fiat is taking care of maintenance for the first 4 years (assuming the first two services are in the first year). The 5 years RSA scheme is a good move, hope Fiat has tied up with right people to offer it beyond the metros.

[puchoo]

If this is an indication of an incremental aggressive stance which Fiat is taking with respect to marketing then it is more than welcome and needed, when one hardly communicates in the market to begin with even small things can make a difference , even if that impact is small.

What i do not like however is the 5 year warranty claim , it was always there , when i bought the Linea the warranty was 3 years + 2 years extendable anyway so that is not new - so maybe if they had removed the cost of buying the extended warranty and simply included it and made it a genuine 5 years warranty offer for sometime , that might have been better.