[phamilyman]

oh please, muneem ji.

Take the body roll outta the equation, it handles as good as vista and STILL soaks up bad roads better.

Its fuel efficiency is great as well IF you've been bothering to read the threads. And the palio's direct steering is STILL better than the Vista and the Swift.

The shoddy marketing means that I even see hoardings for Bolero, India's #1 UV but not for Palio MJD. EVER. Yeah, maybe Tata finds palios too cool to advertise

and the 1.6 is a rocket for the price. Its not meant for the FE masses.

PS: You wanna see salesmanship, CRM, give any Hyundai dealer a call. And guess what, unlike Tata, they'll actually pick up the phone first ring (won't be some unclejee yakking away in his spare time).

and as for the high spares, Fiat have themselves/this unholy tata marriage to blame.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Europeans who come to India from the large automotive companies are basically on a punishment posting. Those coming from Japan and Korea are the top performers. This is the root of the problem.

[naveen.kk]

Not o blame any European companies who come to Indian market. Its we dont accept those perfect machines properly. Those cars are built to last long, but we look at short time FE. Their spares are built with quality but we want Cheaper ones. They are to built have long ownership. But we want to upgrade every now and then.

Its the attitude towards the car is different.

lets Take Palio 1.6 into consideration. It weighs more than a ton, and has 100 horses. But it is compared with a Santro hardly of 800 and odd KGS, with 1.1 SOHC, and Wagon Rust.

None talks about handling, power, build quality.

Palio 1.6 easily beats Ikons, Honda. Lancers. But none compare them with that segment.

In after market, one needs a reason to under price a car. FIat givs enough reasons of FE due to its built quality.

[Technocrat]

Are we still discussing on the price reduction?

Even Spark underwent major price cuts so why so much fuss over Palio's price cuts.

Lets just stick to the price cut related discussion.

[sabnavis]

The colour metallic Grey gets a further discount of 5k, this of course depends on the dealer entirely, but i am given to believe that pushing this colour has been extremely difficult for the company, the Pandit people told me that they would reduce anything between 5 - 10 K for this colour.

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

and as for the high spares, Fiat have themselves/this unholy tata marriage to blame.

No, not themselves to blame but solely the alliance.

Palio spares used to cost lesser than Indica spares before the alliance and even during its initial days. Then the Tata marketing deptt. convinced the Fiat chaps that Palio is a vastly superior car and so it must be positioned accordingly. One of the after-effects of this repositioning was the jacking-up of spare part prices which now cost much more than Indica ones.

[lohithrao]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

oh please, muneem ji.

and as for the high spares, Fiat have themselves/this unholy tata marriage to blame.

Fiat spares is expensive?? i dont think so...atleast with my short experience with fiat i feel the pricing is very good...

For example...rearview mirror(motorised) - 2300bucks....rear wiper 350 bucks...rear stop light...1100...

I think TATA is waking up! i agree that the knowledge about Fiats is low but i like the attitude atleast...

About the drive/performance Palios belong to different league

[CtrlAltDel]

Originally Posted by naveen.kk

Palio 1.6 easily beats Ikons, Honda. Lancers. But none compare them with that segment.

In after market, one needs a reason to under price a car. FIat givs enough reasons of FE due to its built quality.

ok...in that case, why does a Palio 1.6 has a lower FE compared to similarly powerful but much heavier VTECS or even a Corolla? other than the low price, what advantage does a palio 1.6 have over a VTEC or a Corolla?

other than to a rich kid with a fat allowance (or to someone driving hardly few 100 kms a month), what advantage does a palio 1.6 give to the owner?

its the least sensible hatch back for a daily commute. what use is the "driving pleasure" with the 100 odd horses in heavy traffic when one has to pay through the nose for fuel?

most of the people who look for cars in the price range of the 1.6 are commuters who typically own only one car.

it looks like the main target of palio 1.6 are people whose fuel bills are paid by daddy dear or fully reimbursed at their work place. but in order to capture that market, Palio has to jazz up its interiors, provide stuff like ABS etc (and compete with, say, the Chevy SRV)

i respect Fiat a lot, esp for its diesel engine, but i just cannot relate to the blind fanboy attitude many have towards an impractical car that is far from value for money.

[phamilyman]

Lohith Sarkar,

Those are oldie ones. Stile ka bumper costs 12000 with the gurgaon dealer. Fuel filter they claimed some 3k (check my older posts). rear indicator cluster is some 4k or such.

And then one sees the service center who'll administer it, and you faint

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by naveen.kk

Not o blame any European companies who come to Indian market. Its we dont accept those perfect machines properly. Those cars are built to last long, but we look at short time FE. Their spares are built with quality but we want Cheaper ones. They are to built have long ownership. But we want to upgrade every now and then.

Its the attitude towards the car is different.

lets Take Palio 1.6 into consideration. It weighs more than a ton, and has 100 horses. But it is compared with a Santro hardly of 800 and odd KGS, with 1.1 SOHC, and Wagon Rust.

None talks about handling, power, build quality.

Palio 1.6 easily beats Ikons, Honda. Lancers. But none compare them with that segment.

In after market, one needs a reason to under price a car. FIat givs enough reasons of FE due to its built quality.

Yes. Fiat Palio is the greatest thing man created (after Taj Mahal).
From Ikons, Hondas, Skodas, Lancers to Wagon Rusts, Santro Ping, Hyundai iFrog.. etc, nothing comes even close. And why not? Its got Tank like build quality™ and doors that close with a reassuring thud™.
Isnt it?


Coming to the topic, I too saw the ad of the same in Yesterday's HT. Its for Diwali only (upto 25th Oct if i am not mistaken), so a limited period offer, unlike Spark, which seem like a permanent price cut.

To be honest with FIAT, they need permanent and more substantial price cuts than this, and back it up with decent A.S.S., if they are to sell their products in any substantial numbers.

[normally_crazy]

Price cuts means the car is not selling anymore. So Tata-FIAT trying to price it lower than the Indica ?? Why ?

I cannot understand one thing - why is FIAT hell bent on ruining it's reputation more by even trying to sell the Palio ? Just bring in the Punto and scrap the Palio asap. Might actually do something positive for FIAT in the market.

[thiyags22]

Originally Posted by naveen.kk

Not o blame any European companies who come to Indian market. Its we dont accept those perfect machines properly. Those cars are built to last long, but we look at short time FE. Their spares are built with quality but we want Cheaper ones. They are to built have long ownership. But we want to upgrade every now and then.

Isn't it the other way? Till few years back vehicles owned by Indians are for a lifetime and it is the developed markets which saw frequent upgrades among customers.

Also, what's wrong with people wanting to upgrade?

[lohithrao]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Lohith Sarkar,

Those are oldie ones. Stile ka bumper costs 12000 with the gurgaon dealer. Fuel filter they claimed some 3k (check my older posts). rear indicator cluster is some 4k or such.

And then one sees the service center who'll administer it, and you faint

good i own a old Palio.....

[CtrlAltDel]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Just bring in the Punto and scrap the Palio asap. Might actually do something positive for FIAT in the market.

that might happen in the next 1 year, despite the protests of the nay-sayers here

[directinjection]

I suspect Palio is on the verge of being phased out - hence this price cut - to clear the stocks. There was a statement from Mr Tata recently that Fiat and Tata cars will not compete against one another.

It is noteworthy that neither 1.1 nor 1.6 feature in the list of engines to be made at Ranjangaon. MJD and the Vista can't really co-exist, can they?