[Aditya]

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles India (FCA) has announced the appointments of Rahul Pansare as the new Head of Marketing and Sushant Balsekar as the new Head of PR & Corporate Communications of the company.

Rahul Pansare is a Mechanical Engineer and management post graduate. He has 15 years of experience in sales and marketing across domains such as FMCG, entertainment and automobiles. His association with Fiat goes back to 1999, when he started working at Fiat India as an engineer. Prior to joining FCA he was the Head of Communications in Volkswagen Group Sales India.



Sushant Balsekar is an Automobile Engineer with 16 years of work experience. He has worked in various fields such as automotive journalism, automotive PR consulting, corporate, product, brand and strategic communications as well as marketing communications. Prior to joining FCA he was a communications consultant to General Motors India. He has previously worked with Nissan India, Ford India and Ford Asia Pacific and Africa in a variety of communication roles. Sushant will be taking charge from Marius D'Lima, who will soon retire.



These appointments come just as FCA gears up for the launch of Jeep in India and planning for new of Fiat products.

[The Observer]

Good to see some fresh and young minds at the helm, i hope they take a serious re-look at their current portfolio and their plans for the coming years and add new vehicles other than just different variants of Punto and Linea.

My wishlist

Please bring in the 1.6 L engine. Yes the 1.3 is good but we need more.
Don't make the well built Fiat cars lighter to save costs.
Continue to offer cars that ride well and last long.
Improve dealership network, sales experience and ASS.
Bring in the Tippo
Offer us your Automatic transmissions
Add more safety features ( offer full spec)

More later. till then all the best !

[carwatcher]

I wish all the best to the new team.
If one thinks realistically the brand Fiat considers itself to remain a niche player.
Fiat can do something like Renault-Nissan-Datsun with Jeep-Fiat-Chrysler with launching a slew of products but it has become a fiercely competitive market in the last year or so with Hyundai and Maruti becoming yet more aggressive and capable products like Figo and Aspire are struggling to set a foot.

So it's better to be a niche player than trying to invest hugely in a price sensitive segment.

Now the only realistic hope they can have is on brand 'Jeep' and it should succeed as it belongs to the currently favourite SUV segment and with the reasonable success of Endy Fiat can feel positive.

All I can say is good luck.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by The Observer

Good to see some fresh and young minds at the helm, i hope they take a serious re-look at their current portfolio and their plans for the coming years and add new vehicles other than just different variants of Punto and Linea.

One guy is the marketing head, while the other is for PR and communications. I doubt they can take any of those decisions you have mentioned in your post. At the best we can hope for innovative marketing campaigns for Jeep launch!

As for FIAT, there is very little these guys can do unless the product lineup receives an overhaul as you have mentioned. Last thing I want to see is an innovative marketing campaign for Punto Pure!

[The Observer]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

As for FIAT, there is very little these guys can do unless the product lineup receives an overhaul as you have mentioned. Last thing I want to see is an innovative marketing campaign for Punto Pure!

So who in Fiat India calls the shots regarding product line up? Their Italian bosses ? i was hoping the marketing head can make a strong pitch for overhauling the Indian line up. If they are only going to make innovative ads for existing products then we can watch them on you tube and sigh as usual. Nothing will change.

[KiloAlpha]

Seeing fresh talent being infused into FIAT is a nice thing. However, I doubt these guys will be able to make a real difference to FIAT in India.

Most of the market points at a poor product line-up and patchy dealer network. Changing these will take significant resource and investment. Such decisions are taken at a very high strategic level. I would hazard a guess that these two gentlemen are not at that level in FIAT's India operations.

I am wondering if FIAT India sees the whole car making business as a cost centre, given the amount of revenue (and potentially profits) being generated by engine supply?

[forester]

Seriously, what game plan does FIAT think it has got for the future that it is sitting so laid back & relaxed? Waiting for that final flight back home maybe?

It's a huge conglomerate and sure can spend chunks to hire Marketing & PR people to take charge & do short stints & handle the launch of their iconic marquee. But realistically speaking, is FCA more of an event management company or an OEM?

The focus should rather have been on maintaining sustainable presence, whatsoever is left of it, in a market where it has simply failed ever so miserably even after getting multiple revival chances.

How do you justify spending so much without any concrete long term plans or ROI? No competent products in the lineup, dwindling service network & the spares are like searching for a needle in a haystack.

And that's the current situation, just within a couple of years after going ahead on a dealer network strengthening spree & when the company is still operational in the country.

Earlier it was the fans, but with this pathetic performance, who do they target now? The niche is also lost to quite an extent and would diminish within a span of a maximum of two years as I foresee.

From my being hopeful to now cynical, I'm afraid FIAT has lost any rights of coming back now.

[RJ411]

On other note Team Fiat forum is officially closing its operations on 1st June.

It's really sad to see such a passionate bunch of people losing the battle.

http://www.teamfiat.com/threads/tfi-...ne-2016.15801/

I am aware this might come as a shock to many of you but honestly, with FIAT going nowhere in India, I see very little reason or purpose for this forum to exist. Heck, FIAT does not even bother about our members and it's customers. In such a scenario, there is no reason why we should be giving them such a platform. They thoroughly deserve all the bashing they get on other forums.

[Speed Pujari]

It is a wait and watch situation, Fiat brand is down in drain and no one bothers about it anymore.
I think ideally they should have lured someone from Maruti/Hyundai for marketing position.

[vikrantj]

I think it is pointless exercise from FIAT. They do not have any fresh products nor have anything substantial to offer to the Indian consumers. What is a marketing person going to do ? What is he going to sell ?

It is about time FIAT revisits all its plans and take a stock of situation and decide whether it wants to be a Engine manufacturer or a Car manufacturer.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Why is everyone talking about FIAT?

Guys, it's time to concentrate on the C of FCA. F is dead and they also seem to realize it.

Jeep is the next big bet from the alliance. They want to launch the Wrangler and Cherokee and establish the brand first, and also try to regain their right to the heritage from Mahindra. This followed by the Renegade and the rumoured new SUV specifically being developed for emerging markets like India.

So no point going on and on in circles about FIAT. This is the exact reason a popular FIAT forum has announced their closure as well. Let's move on and discuss Jeep for this thread.

PS- Want more proof? See both of their pics provided to the media with the Cherokee background. Clearly shows the priority for Jeep

[21Archer84]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

See both of their pics provided to the media with the Cherokee background. Clearly shows the priority for Jeep

Buddy, Just a correction, It's Grand Cherokee and not Cherokee and I agree with you. FIAT as brand is as good as dead, unless they cover each segment with atleast one product of theirs, which is highly unlikely.
FCA India if it has any hopes of success in India should rely on Jeep now. I don't know if the Renegade would be coming to India, as they didn't showcase it in their list of launches. I say this because the prices of Wrangler and GC are not yet announced, forget seeing them on roads even after all these years.

However, I don't feel they need someone to market Jeep. The name itself is good enough for the cars to sell unless they mess up the pricing and after sales.

[arnabchak]

Originally Posted by The Observer

So who in Fiat India calls the shots regarding product line up? Their Italian bosses ? i was hoping the marketing head can make a strong pitch for overhauling the Indian line up. If they are only going to make innovative ads for existing products then we can watch them on you tube and sigh as usual. Nothing will change.

Seems highly doubtful.

Marketing and PR goes hand in hand. I tell you this from experience.
I am a hard core Sales and Marketing Professional whereas my father has been a senior PR personnel for top companies.

They are only the look and sheen of the product. At best, they can try to improve the brand perception of a Fiat product and roll out catchy ads and campaigns that may increase the desirability of the product.

As far as change in lineup, overhauling line ups, swap the 1.3 with a 1.6 decisions are concerned, they are not the guys who can do that.

[Latheesh]

Their products line up in India

1) Punto- Failed
Then why bother launching Punto Evo, Aventura, and Abarth Punto? finally they launched first version again.

2) Linea- Failed
Then why bother launching Tjet, Refreshed Linea, refreshed Tjet and finally they launched first version again (that too at Auto Expo?).

And these stupid company expect Indian customers to rush to their showroom.

Now they have pretty good independent dealership networks in most of the major locations. Scrap FIAT brand and convert them to Chrysler-Jeep showrooms. Make sure not to display FIAT logo anywhere near it.