[ram_hyundai]

hey punto base version would be slightly less costly than swift zxi.it should be bigger than the the swift but has to see how many takers for it given the fiat legendary flop in india.good products but less reliablity regarding the manufacturer.
ram

[Swaroop77]

Pricing determines a lot in the cut throat hatchback market in India. It might be a premium compared to Swift but just airbags and ABS will not make it so ( and Swift ZXI already has it). The handling, finish et all might be better and it will get rave reviews from test drivers in Automagazines but the pricing will determine how well it will do in sales figures. Past experience shows that any hatchback venturing into Sedan price category does not do that great ( for eg Chev SRV ) in sales figures. I am not sure if the price cut of SRV in decemeber helped? Fiat is banking on TATA to market Punto. I experienced their marketing when I went to a TATA showroom to test drive Palio. The only chance Fiat has to make a success of Punto is to price it well ( nay, aggresively). Else it will go down without a whimper.

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by cartech

Fiat expects sale of 6K to 7k units.

Hmmm. They expect to sell better than swift (DDiS). May be difficult if it is 6.5L (OTR).

[BUSA]

Now when Fiat is launching premium car (hatch), people want that car to be priced lower than competition.

It is a modern car with a sleek design, jazzy interiors, ABS & Airbags etc, if you need a car like that, you need to shell out 6 - 6.5 lacs, if not, pls stop daydreaming!

Whats the defination of modern? How is the Punto a premium car? The Fiat Grand Punto and Swift were launched worldwide in 2005, and the replacement model of the Grand Punto is expeceted in 2009, so how modern is it?

What exactly is jazzy interiors. No car other then this has Jazzy interiors IMO.

Also the article said it will be costlier then Swift/Getz, the Getz Diesel costs 6.5L, so its going to be priced above that?

Its not me, but its Fiat who is day dreaming, expecting to capture the market by selling GPs in large volumes and pricing it above the likes of Getz/Swift. When the article says more then Getz, that means the base model will cost more then Getz, so top end might cost as much as a Fabia. Instead Fiat should launch a model at 5Lacs, and then higher end variants with better features can be priced on par with Fusion.

Since it is a premium hatch, it will not sell in volumes but cater to a niche market!

Fiat wants to be a volume player, right? And whether they launch premium cars or not, they are always in the niche market, case in point Palio Stile sells less then Honda CRV

Its such a sorry affair that their website shows non-existent cars in showroom section.

With no news on the cars, they should learn something from GM, whose website has a "Coming Soon" section.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by finneyp

Since it is a premium hatch, it will not sell in volumes but cater to a niche market!

Well, I don't think so. They have to decide what to. Either they want to cater to a niche market or sell 4000 units a month as the article mentions.

[finneyp]

BUSA, if you don't understand the meaning of Modern, Premium, Jazzy etc, I cannot help it! Maybe you can refer any English dictionary!

When did Fiat India say that they want to capture the market by selling GPs in large volumes???
Pls don't cook your own stories!

If some one wants a Premium hatch with ABS & Airbags priced < 5 lacs, that is sheer daydreaming!

[rao_battula]

I am not sure why are we discussing when there is no news from FIAT or reliable sources. All ifs and buts... Come on guys, this is not fair. I am sure FIAT/TAT guys know about the car better than we sitting here.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by finneyp

If some one wants a Premium hatch with ABS & Airbags priced < 5 lacs, that is sheer daydreaming!

Some one wants a Fiat (not premium) hatch with ABS and airbags priced < 5 lacs.

Since India will see a lot of new cars coming in, we should stop using the word premium for all and sundry.

[vinaykiran79]

Fiat Punto is far more superior to swift or getz, so i think its fair to have a higher price tag than them

[SkyWalker]

Originally Posted by BUSA

How is the Punto a premium car? The Fiat Grand Punto and Swift were launched worldwide in 2005, and the replacement model of the Grand Punto is expeceted in 2009, so how modern is it?

Punto is clearly a superior product than Swift.

As for the pricing, 4-6 K in volumes is a pipe dream - not when sedans are selling below 5 L. What Fiat really needs to do is to bring a low cost diesel hatch and be a volume player to gain confidence with masses.

Fiat really needs to be clear about what they want to do. They can either be the high end player and bring out technically superior products which are priced a little higher (like Honda, Skoda) - or they can be a volume player who sells VFM products (like maruthi & tata). Seems like they are neither here nor there!

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by finneyp

When did Fiat India say that they want to capture the market by selling GPs in large volumes???
Pls don't cook your own stories!

I quote from the article:
The company is confident of selling around 3,000-4,000 units a month. This is a sizeable figure for the European company as it could sell 1,600 units of Palio last year. De Filippis Giovanni, managing director, Fiat India, said, “Even as the car falls in the same class, we may price Grande Punto at a premium compared with Swift and Getz.”

3-4 k per month on the GP is pretty high volume. And the guy mentions that GP is in the same class as the Swift etc.

[anarchist]

Originally Posted by [B

cartech][/b]
Fiat expects sale of 6K to 7k units

.

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Hmmm. They expect to sell better than swift (DDiS). May be difficult if it is 6.5L (OTR).

The numbers are surely for a year. i.e. target 6 or 7k units a year. Everybody knows Premium cars sell only in the 100's.

[dhaval]

IMO the on road price of 6-6.5 lacs should be pretty decent a pricing, if Fiat wants to achieve the numbers.
Btw the article says that Fiat wants to sell Punto as a lifestyle product, but that doesn't mean that the car is in a premium segment.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by dhaval

IMO the on road price of 6-6.5 lacs should be pretty decent a pricing, if Fiat wants to achieve the numbers.

I think it will have to be sub-6. Please don't forget that Fiat has to overcome a huge mental barrier that people like you and me and the million others have against its services in India.

[raul]

This 'premium' business is going of control. Punto is not a premium car, that's a joke, nor is the Fabia, another joke. Next people will say Swift is premium. These are 'designed' to be run of the mill practical affordable cars and are sold as such everywhere. Knock knock, is anyone there.

Tata cannot sell the Indica as an affordable car here and sell a stripped down version of the same car as a 'premium car' in let's say Africa, that would be taking extreme liberties with the term premium. So take a minute to understand the auto industry before throwing around terms like premium.

However since there are so many people willing to pay premiums maybe Maruti should add abs and airbags and jack up prices by 3 lakhs, going by the number of posters here blinded by 'premium' they could make some easy money. Swift 'Special Edition' with 'added premium', only 9 lakhs. Voila.

You cannot make a car premium because you feel like it, there has to be a number of factors that separate a premium car from an ordinary modern car.

And its not brand alone, its much much more than that, BMW cannot rebrand the Swift and hope to sell it for a premium without souping it up considerably. That would be extraordinarily stupid and summarily rejected by their customers. Automakers are not stupid and neither are customers.

Go look up the specs, features and power of the BMW 1 series to understand why it is premium and how they can justify selling it for 20k pounds whereas other hatches sell for much nearly half of that and yes that includes so called premium Fabia and Punto.

A BMW or Mercedes is not a Camry or Accord with a different shell. People pay for brand but brand is not made from thin air, there is a reason there is a brand in the first place, perceptions are built from differentiators in technology, performance, innovation and design. Now that's premium.