[lurker]

Fiat has launched this beauty with a mazda engine & Fiat 1.4 multiair turbo engine in European and NA markets. Maybe just trying to titilate fans and not serious.

[DCEite]

Good riddance as others pointed out.

Instead of flogging a dead horse, why not move on and concentrate on something better, something different.

I personally am more excited for KIA, entering our market.

[vagabond128]

Really sad news for enthusiasts.

This kind of news/rumour will end up expediting their exit process. 2019 could end up being an optimistic / theoretical timeline.

Fiat cars were there in my list of cars to be evaluated before finalizing my next car. On reading this post, I promptly deleted these names from my list.

What impact would this exit have on other manufacturers - who are already present and also those who may be contemplating entering Indian market?

What happens to Fiat dealers in such scenario? Do they get flexibility to switch to competitors while Fiat is still in India?

Originally Posted by //M

With the pricing strategy of Jeep Wrangler & Jeep Grand Cherokee and hence slump in subsequent demand from prospective customers, I won't be surprised if by 2019 they plan to pull out Jeep operations as well !

They may launch more economical products in future. This top-down approach could be part of their premium branding strategy.

Only time would tell whether or not this strategy works for them in India.

[GrammarNazi]

Just yesterday I read a post by Volkman saying that the Compact SUV is going to be launched in 2018 as a FIAT and not under the Jeep brand.

Fiat India has confirmed that there will not be any new product launches in the future

How can this be true ? don't know why the mainstream journalists start taking comments out of context & interpolate it with something else.

FIAT has deep pockets. Obviously they've launch to cars which sell & justify(/recover) the costs that dealers have incurred in building showrooms & service centres.

Let's see.

[nkrishnap]

As long as Fiat announces it is only speculation. This speculation is on for a long time and Fiat has limped along for years now. I feel they will continue to limp.

[deepakhon]

When I purchased my Palio in 2003, there were rumours to this effect. I kept it for 10 years, sold it, and purchased Linea T-Jet and have been enjoying it since 3 years. In effect, I have been hearing this rumour since 13 years and Fiat is still limping.

[StarrySky]

To me, the CEO's statement is not very confidence-inspiring:

It would be rather speculative to assume that Fiat will have no product in India in future. We are working on many options and will announce our product plan at the right time.

He does not give any clue about future products (understandable), nor does he say whatever earlier product plan they have shared will be implemented. I would not be surprised if the option of phasing out operations is being discussed at higher levels (with some well-connected analysts getting the leaks). But probably no decision has been taken yet.

[sidindica]

Its not the fault of the public but the brand themselves that they are at present state-languishing!!!

-The Indian public was never against Fiat, else 2,90,000 people wouldn't have placed their hard earned deposits for the Uno.
Their own poor labour strategies, management of alliance with PAL, duping people by not refunding the cancelled booking amounts (maybe some even to this day), due to 6 months of strike at both the factories, inconsistency in supplying spare parts with limited dealer network to Uno, led to its first doom.

-The Indian public was never against Fiat, else 50,000 people wouldn't have plonked their hard earned money and waited for 2 months to get the Palio.
But, Fiat never cared. They caliberated the tripmeter wrong which used to underread, and owners complained about poor FE, plonked in the 1.9 Palio with a faulty fuel injection pump caliberation and never accepted responsibility to customer complaints, and had terrible management of spare parts, and failed again for the second time.

-They seeked help from Tata, launched the Linea and Punto, and again, they sold decently, because the Indian public was never against Fiat, and were also supported by 175+ outlets. But, the management at Fiat never really cared. It took them 7 years to decide that they needed to go separate. And that was the third failed attempt, and perhaps, final nail in the coffin.

-They made false promises, never got 1.6 in Linea, promised fast tracked launches and the so called "new products" were just mere facelifts of 7-8 year old originals and the public never took it to them.
-In short, NOW, this is 2016. And the Indian car buyer is smart and educated enough where and when to plonk money. A 32 lakh rupee barebones base model 500 abarth or a watered down Punto T jet with abarth badging was not something the market needed. The T jet cars are genuinely good, but the market has given a thumbs down. The market is still ready to accept Fiat as a brand, provided they commit to our market and launch fresh, competitive new products at competitive prices. Perhaps, going by the indication, that will never happen.
-They are happy earning royalties from each multijet engine they sell to MS or Tata, and never really cared about the customer or the dealer as a whole. In fact, the dealers themselves are a demotivated lot, and often curse the service related strategies related to part ordering, and even slow moving billing or DMS system.

-I have been a Fiat owner for close to 4 years, and this kind of statement by Kevin Flynn only erodes my confidence as a customer. Not at all acceptable. And this, coming from the fact that my overall ownership experiance with Fiat has been pretty decent, not as bad as many have expected. And with only 4 workshops, in entire Delhi NCR at present, things may not look rosy, unless it's only a miracle that can save them. The Indian car buyer gave Fiat India 4 chances, and they royally screwed up every time. And with many potential dealers being sceptical about the future roadmap of jeep, or the shared retail strategy, if FCA India even after 21 years haven't understood what the Indian consumer wants, then god save them.

-Whatever happens in 2018-19, is not something of a concern. What happens this year, or the next, whether or not the replacements will come or not, better to wait and watch.

And I had to write this, after finishing a stupendous 250 km trip with this.

[Dr.Naren]

I always wanted to own one Fiat. But dad is against buying Fiat cars. He had booked Fiat UNO and what followed next was horrible. Finally we got the booking amount back after 6 years. Most of they guys have not forgotten about what Fiat did with UNO.

Anyways thanks to Fiat for wonderful multijet engines. It's sad that they couldn't get 1.6 Multijet in their own car in India.

[Pedaltothefloor]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

Anyways thanks to Fiat for wonderful multijet engines. It's sad that they couldn't get 1.6 Multijet in their own car in India.

Isn't the 1.6 doing duty on the Linea?

[Sree73]

Originally Posted by Pedaltothefloor

Isn't the 1.6 doing duty on the Linea?

Linea has 1.4 Fire / 1.4 T-Jet and 1.3 Multijet engines.

Fiat 1.6 (DDiS320) was introduced in India by Maruti through S-Cross. As of now, that is the only one in India, which runs on DDiS320.

[itwasntme]

My uncle's ancient Fiat Uno door feels heavier and better built than my Cruze or Octavia. Such is the quality of the sheet metal. I understand that scrap dealers would pay a hefty premium for Uno panels for the metal content

Management incompetence explains it all I think. I visited the Kurla factory on work in 2000 and felt a PSU kind of feeling then itself. No one in management had the sheer enthusiasm and agility needed in the later years.

[Moto_Hill]

On the contrary, I was told by an insider to stick around as Fiat is gonna launch new models soon.
"If you love driving, we are still here"

[k_ajay]

This news was to anyway come later (I was expecting 2019-2020) when both Maruti and Tata Motors started using their own manufactured diesel engines (where the MJD derivatives would go out of demand).

Not much pity as Fiat did this to themselves, only choosing to sell engines for their moolah. Pity the many dealers who invested more (think Fiat Cafes) hoping for a better tomorrow.

None of their products today are so interesting that they can be taken ignoring the risk of not so great service options. This decision was on the wall, so to say, for a while now.

With Jeep's apparently ridiculous pricing of their products, wonder if they'll join FCA India by 2019-2020 for the wrap up and close ceremonies.

[y2ksrs]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Hello BHPians,

I read this article from Cartoq which states FCA will have Jeep as it's mainstay and Fiat cars will not be sold after 2019. Fiat India has confirmed that there will not be any new product launches in the future.

Here is the link

http://www.cartoq.com/fiat-brand-to-...a-says-report/

But FCA India CEO Kevin Flynn has denied the news though. Anyways, Fiat India is not going to see new products anytime in the near future.

It is indeed a sad news to every car lover in the country.



Regards
Prasanna

I'm sorry, but I don't find even an iota of truth in this article. I doubt the trustworthiness of the article. News like this would definitely be reported in and by other magazines, but a Google search does not bring up even a single result on this topic. Heck, even this article is not returned by Google. Therefore, I don't trust this news even a wee bit. Somehow I get this feeling that this is a piece of highly irresponsible journalism and the article was written just to garner attention. This is not even rumor, something way below even that and I wonder if this even deserves its own thread here on this highly respected forum, let alone comments from car enthusiasts like us. If there are any Fiat insiders on this forum who can confirm this news, then that'll be great.

Yes, Fiat have been doing very very badly of late. Their management is severely incompetent and do not seem to have no clue as to what they are doing. But that doesn't mean that they'll simply shut shop and walk away - that just doesn't make any sense whatsoever. If they do indeed have to do that, they may as well do it now, rather than wait till 2019!!