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Old 5th January 2010, 09:48   #31
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Originally Posted by brar.arsh View Post
how could you say about the end of fiat? its here to stay, nothing will happen due to 2pc increase as all other manufacturers are also going for same or more..
I also thought like this initially. But after seeing a post here, I am very concerned. Fiat may get doomed in India. I have two fiats, and I am so scared that I can't even type this properly as my hands are shivering.

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One reason you may not be noticing them is its not a puller like Linea which gets noticed anywhere it goes.
and that's one of the reasons Linea will continue to sell even though Manza is out there. Some people here think that everyone who wanted to buy a Linea will go blindly for Manza - how silly. The fact is, I am yet to see a Manza on road. I haven't seen one even inside Technopark where Tvm has the largest population of cars during daytime. There are quite a few GPs and Lineas.

One of my colleague recently visited our Blr office for few days and he came back saying that he couldn't find a GP in Blr roads whereas in Kerala roads there are some running. I think Fiat is selling comparatively better in Kerala?

Indigo selling 5K in a month and GP plus Linea selling 1K+ is no surprise. Has Fiat ever sold more than these numbers ever?

Last edited by clevermax : 5th January 2010 at 09:50.
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Old 5th January 2010, 10:07   #32
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Linea selling in less numbers in Dec can be attributed to
1. Manza effect: Since a common man would see almost all features in Manza with less money to pay
2. Many people who are willing to put money on Linea could be waiting for T-Jet pricing to be out.

Grande Punto selling less in numbers is a sure shot worry factor, The only rumor about MJD Punto was, its about to get Linea VGT based engine.

FIAT gonna stay here for sure. TATA has equally put money on the RJ facility. But on a serious note, I guess FIAT management should sit alongside TATA and decide strategies to avoid same feature packed and price ranged vehicles under 2 different brands under the same dealership.

About price hike: Well almost all manufacturers are going to increse the price. They are not doing any charity anyways. GM has already increased the prices. I guess Toyota has already undergone this exercise. What we want is, alongside this price hike, FIAT should improve the plastic quality of the interiors.
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Old 5th January 2010, 10:13   #33
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just for the record - Ranjangaon plant was shut for maintenance for most part of December .

But you never know, reading post from scoopsters here FIAT may shut soon
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Old 5th January 2010, 10:24   #34
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Manza is probably eating into the Linea sales, people coming into the showroom are going to see Linea and Manza side by side and looking at the prices people are most probably gravitating towards the Tata product and pretty sure the sales people would be more inclined to push that and this price increase is not going to help.
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Old 5th January 2010, 10:47   #35
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Yay! My record of the cheapest Punto on TBHP will continue to stand for a while!

Any news of new colors getting introduced on the GP? The configurator on the Fiat UK web site has some tasty shades.
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Old 5th January 2010, 11:05   #36
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Quote:
Originally Posted by neoonwheels View Post
Linea selling in less numbers in Dec can be attributed to
1. Manza effect: Since a common man would see almost all features in Manza with less money to pay
2. Many people who are willing to put money on Linea could be waiting for T-Jet pricing to be out.

Grande Punto selling less in numbers is a sure shot worry factor, The only rumor about MJD Punto was, its about to get Linea VGT based engine.

FIAT gonna stay here for sure. TATA has equally put money on the RJ facility. But on a serious note, I guess FIAT management should sit alongside TATA and decide strategies to avoid same feature packed and price ranged vehicles under 2 different brands under the same dealership.

About price hike: Well almost all manufacturers are going to increse the price. They are not doing any charity anyways. GM has already increased the prices. I guess Toyota has already undergone this exercise. What we want is, alongside this price hike, FIAT should improve the plastic quality of the interiors.
FORD also increased prices up to 40000.
And the FIAT plant was shutdown for maintenance from December 15 and will open on 15th January.This may be the reason for slowdown of sales.
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Old 5th January 2010, 11:32   #37
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About the points which are being discussed here:

1) Fiat is going to be doomed, going to close soon
2) Manza is the reason why Linea and GP sales are affected

First point looks looks scary. I am still trying to overcome the shock after reading that.

For point no 2, I have read a lot of people mentioning this. If this has to be believed, Manza would have hit sales of cars from Nano to S class!



See sales of Nov 09 and Dec 09. I am giving you some figures. Please read the format as

sales of Nov 09 - Dec 09 -% decrease:

Indica 9,111 - 4,228 - 53.60%

Indigo 5,931 - 5,106 - 13.91%

Fiat 1,956 - 1,008 - 48.47%

City 3,856 - 3,269 - 15.23%

Jazz 546 - 269 - 50.74%

Civic 551 - 363 - 34.12%

Verna
Accent 4,748 - 3,068 - 35.40%

If one say Fiat is doomed, what do you think after looking at these figures?
Every other car maker is having lower sales. Is Manza the ONLY reason? Come on guys.

Fact is Indigo range sales are down 14% in one month. This is for a brand new car. For a car that was supposed to clobber Linea and Punto, truth is Manza sales itself are down in one month. Even Verna and Accent sales are down 35% giving an idea of how Linea must have slid. Sure, if you compare these figures to Dec 2008, then sales are up but then Fiat sales must be up almost 400% compared to December 08. What does that prove?

By the way, GM Sold 613 Cruze beating the mighty Civic comprehensively.Accord sales have dropped 34% compared to last month (172 v/s 113 units). Fact is except for City all Honda models are not having a good time.


Sales of small cars from India's big duo:

Alto, A-Star, Estilo,
Wag R,Swift, Ritz 56,005 - 52,236 - 6.73%

Santro, i10,
i20 and Getz: 50,501 - 44,121 - 12.62%

Dzire and SX4: 8,741 - 7,843 - 10.27%

'New SX4' has not worked?

Manza sales are down within the third month of it's launch. If it was Fiat Manza tbhp would be writing it's obituary by now. Why nothing when it's a Tata Manza?

Last edited by clevermax : 5th January 2010 at 11:36.
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Old 5th January 2010, 11:32   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thangu View Post
Manza is probably eating into the Linea sales, people coming into the showroom are going to see Linea and Manza side by side and looking at the prices people are most probably gravitating towards the Tata product and pretty sure the sales people would be more inclined to push that and this price increase is not going to help.

This may not happen in large numbers. The kind of crowd opting for Linea would not prefer a Manza.
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Old 5th January 2010, 11:55   #39
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Linea is not for the masses ... Manza may be ... I believe with improved quality the Linea should do 1500-1800 numbers per month in 2010 and that is a respectable number for the feature packed sedan.

However GP sales should be more of a concern to FIAT since its a VFM hatchback and should ideally be selling upwards of 2500 per month. That no. looks more difficult to achieve.
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Old 5th January 2010, 12:19   #40
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One of the major reasons for lower sales, as seen for most of the manufacturers, could be that most people tend to delay purchase for the new yr. But all that apart, the sales nos of both punto and linea are not really encouraging to say the least!
Manza could affect Punto sales more than Linea - factors being, price range, equipment and Manza as an overall sedan package. I for one would not even consider Manza if Linea is on my mind, as someone rightly pointed out.
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Old 5th January 2010, 13:15   #41
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I think going by trend all manufacturers sell less in December compared to November numbers. Ofcourse reason of buying in new year would be a 2010 model.

But still GP and Linea at 1k is very bad. Almost half down since Nov. even with discounts on GPs it couldn't sell more. One possible reason could be plant shutdown as someone mentioned, or could be most bookings in Dec wanted invoicing/delivery in Jan to register in a new year.

Fiat's price increase they clearly mentioned way back so its not a surprise, their margins were getting hit, so price rise was inevitable. So do we get good quality in plastics after price rise looks to be seen.
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Old 5th January 2010, 14:12   #42
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+1 to people who predict that FIAT will soon pack it's bags.

How will the sales improve if they don't care for customers?

My friend had a horrible experience at Tafe Reach, Chennai and after a month he ended up canceling his booking for Punto Emotion Pk.

I was incensed to hear about his experience there and shot 3 E-mails to FIAT top brass in India including the CEO but unfortunately the mandarins have not bothered to reply or call even once.

Linea & Punto are excellent cars but unfortunately they are letdown by poor Sales/Customer service from FIAT.
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Old 5th January 2010, 14:26   #43
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Even 5 - 6 years back people were predicting the doom of Fiat!
On this forum itself someone created a thread predicting the same, but...

I don't understand, if Fiat raises its car prices (for genuine reasons), all hell breaks loose & it is doomed, but it is absolutely fine if other car makers hike the prices!
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Old 5th January 2010, 15:52   #44
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lloydofcochin View Post
+1 to people who predict that FIAT will soon pack it's bags.

How will the sales improve if they don't care for customers?

My friend had a horrible experience at Tafe Reach, Chennai and after a month he ended up canceling his booking for Punto Emotion Pk.

I was incensed to hear about his experience there and shot 3 E-mails to FIAT top brass in India including the CEO but unfortunately the mandarins have not bothered to reply or call even once.

Linea & Punto are excellent cars but unfortunately they are letdown by poor Sales/Customer service from FIAT.
-2 to both of you.
I had a doubt about dynamic pack yesterday, i mailed to FIAT and today i got a call back.
This is not an issue here..
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Old 5th January 2010, 16:14   #45
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brar.arsh View Post
-2 to both of you.
Hope one of them is not me, as I wrote that very sarcastically after seeing a statement 'Fiat is doomed', reason being Manza. That too from a distinguished bhpian.

Last edited by clevermax : 5th January 2010 at 16:16.
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