[damager21]

Fiat has revealed the Abarth 595 Competizione on its website.

http://www.fiat-india.com/abarth/

Also, there 4 exclusive dealers
RDC, Chennai
KHT FIAT, Bangalore
AUSTIN FIAT, Kolkata
KASHYAP FIAT, New Delhi

Interestingly there is none in Mumbai

[rsidd]

Originally Posted by damager21

Fiat has revealed the Abarth 595 Competizione on its website.

Already discussed in previous comments, including absence of west zone dealers!

I expect it will be a niche product: even the much-better-known VW Beetle was a flop (as was the previous introduction of Fiat 500) and I'm not sure how much these things contribute to building brand image. But maybe the "muscle power" image of Abarth will help.

BTW, until this month (May 2015) I had spotted a total of two Evos and one Avventura on the road in Chennai, other than test drive vehicles. This month alone I have spotted 5 or 6 Evos and three Avventuras. The sales figures are down, if anything, but are an aggregate of Punto+Evo+Avventura. My hypothesis is that there was lots of factory or dealer inventory of old-Punto which was still being shipped out till recently, and buyers were buying that (enticed by discounts)... the old stocks have finally run out and the new vehicles are being sold in better numbers. Plausible?

[geeash]

Frankly speaking. I don't think it's going to sell. Fiat should rather try to consolidate their position in india by selling car for the masses than getting all these niche products. I owned a linea for 6 years. I frankly don't think I will go for another fiat car in coming years. The TATA JV spoiled the whole experience for me and then came the equally pathetic fiat Service centres. Though the linea has improved leaps and bounds from what I had I still think they are no where near in competition even with segment midrangers like VW leave alone the Hondas. I have always felt that my linea 1.4 fire and 1.3 MJD a bit underpowered for such a heavy car. Though now they market only TJET petrol cars now, The market wants a 1.6 MJD now. Rather than introducing it when the time is ripe if they prefer to launch ABARTH which will never sell volumes I really think they are driving a nail into their own coffin. If they still want to milk the already milked cow 1.3 MJD, the cow would rather die a painful death

[amansanc]

Got the news about Abarth being launched in India soon and was pretty excited. Visited the website and registered for the updates. And I did get one. But looking at the e-mail they sent, i can understand why Fiat is where it is.

Now if a company can't send a proper reply to a mail, I doubt they can sell cars

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by amansanc

Got the news about Abarth being launched in India soon and was pretty excited. Visited the website and registered for the updates. And I did get one. But looking at the e-mail they sent, i can understand why Fiat is where it is.

Now if a company can't send a proper reply to a mail, I doubt they can sell cars

Attachment 1377381

Wow just wow! I don't know how companies can hire people that will send of a mail like that to someone asking for a brochure for a car that is going to be 30l or so, and targeted towards a very niche audience. I know after owning my Punto I decided I would not touch a Fiat until things improved, but in last 2 years nothing really seems to have improved.

[vinit.merchant]

Originally Posted by akshay1234

Wow just wow! I don't know how companies can hire people that will send of a mail like that to someone asking for a brochure for a car that is going to be 30l or so, and targeted towards a very niche audience. I know after owning my Punto I decided I would not touch a Fiat until things improved, but in last 2 years nothing really seems to have improved.

The mails are usually diverted to the local dealership who then respond. Not surprised with the grammatical errors.

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by amansanc

Got the news about Abarth being launched in India soon and was pretty excited. Visited the website and registered for the updates. And I did get one. But looking at the e-mail they sent, i can understand why Fiat is where it is.

Now if a company can't send a proper reply to a mail, I doubt they can sell cars

Attachment 1377381

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

The mails are usually diverted to the local dealership who then respond. Not surprised with the grammatical errors.

The email must have come from someone speaking Italian English
Just a continuation of this and many other marketing related challenges Fiat seems to face in India.

[amansanc]

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

The mails are usually diverted to the local dealership who then respond. Not surprised with the grammatical errors.

That doesn't seem to be the case here. It has clearly been answered by a FCA customer care representative (whom I wouldn't want to name on an open forum).
But you are right. Usually, such enquiries are forwarded to local dealers who then reply back. Again, Fiat has assigned no Abarth dealer in the Western region yet

[Guite]

Fiat Linea sales figure has not improved over the past two years even after they started separate sales and service. Other Fiat models show similar stagnant trend. Their products are very good but I am worried about long term survival of this brand in India. If the company folds up operation existing customers will be left high and dry in terms of service. Will Fiat be around in the long term, say 6 to 10 years down the line? No easy answer but they are not doing good business selling cars here either, other than selling engines.

[amit]

Originally Posted by amansanc

Got the news about Abarth being launched in India soon and was pretty excited. Visited the website and registered for the updates. And I did get one. But looking at the e-mail they sent, i can understand why Fiat is where it is.

Now if a company can't send a proper reply to a mail, I doubt they can sell cars

Wow! And these people are going to handle the Jeep brand as well with the Grand Cherokee expected to cost well over 50-60 Lakhs? I can foresee Fiat murdering the Jeep brand in India just as they killed the Fiat name here.

[amansanc]

Ok. So after the email, I got a DM on twitter from Fiat asking for my contact details. I shared the same 5 days ago. And as expected, no response since then!

[ghodlur]

A little birdie confirmed (based on the trainings they had recently) that the Abarth will be tentatively launched in the 27 to 30L price range which brings it unfortunately in the Mini Cooper price band. Also there will be 3 variants of Abarth - 165 PS, 145 PS and 135 PS which will launched for India. The most surprising thing to know is that the Abarth to be launched comes with 90 mm GC. Now how would these even be suitable for the indian road condition.

According to Fiat they have 1500+ pre bookings available with them.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

The most surprising thing to know is that the Abarth to be launched comes with 90 mm GC

It is a little hard to digest that number. We have to see. It may not pose too much a problem considering the car has a short wheel base. Might just make it over those giant speed humps. May not get through a pot hole though.

[rsidd]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

According to Fiat they have 1500+ pre bookings available with them.

If memory serves, they claimed 500+ pre-bookings for Avventura, and I doubt the total sales in the 3 months after it was released was anywhere near that. If they sell 1500 Abarths in a year (which would be near Linea territory), they would have read the market well for once! But I'm not holding my breath. That too when they have announced dealers in only four cities, excluding the western zone totally.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by rsidd

That too when they have announced dealers in only four cities, excluding the western zone totally.

Thats not the case as recent reports. The FASS at Thane, Pune were called for the training which happened in the first week of June. I am sure there would have been other dealers also called for the training which means that Abarth sales would not be limited to just 4 dealers but would be nation wide. Even I feel the 1500+ figures are too far fetched but its just the pre bookings not the sales. How many such bookings finally results in sales would have too be confirmed once the sales starts.