[aaggoswami]

I came across this article about Tata-Fiat partnership. Looks like they are really not that happy. I would still say that till date, its Tata that has actually better advantage out of the partnership.


Source : Here.

Article :

June 14 (PTI) Admitting that the joint venture between Tata Motors and Fiat has not been as active as planned, Tata Group Chief Ratan Tata has said the association needs to be critically examined to optimise its potential.

In an interview in market research firm JD Power''s report on the Indian automobile industry, Tata said his good personal rapport with Fiat Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne has not been translated at the working level of the two firms.

"... I have to admit that so far, the venture with Fiat has not been as active as we had thought," Tata said in ''India Automotive 2020: The Next Giant from Asia''.

With Fiat yet to make its mark in the Indian car market, Tata said the Italian company needed to bring in more new models here.

[vshetty]

From what was said, weirdly it seems like TATA is unhappy with FIAT about not bringing in new models and not churning out volumes why does Tata care ?

Now it is a known fact that the fat-bosses in FIAT India division are a bunch of non-achievers - no advertisements, no marketing, no brand-building for any of their products, and obviously lack of grey matter, here is a plan for them :-) :

i) Palio diesel with its classic looks, with some modern interiors would have been an amazing buy at 4.5 Lakhs - 5.5 Lakh range
ii) Punto positioned the way it is, with some stricter quality control and advertising.

And the biggest folly of all, Fiat 500 a car which nearly every one in the west is ga-ga over is bought to India with a 15,00,000/= Price tag !! What is the logic in that ?

Albeit, I think Fiat has suffered much more in this relationship with TATA.

[aaggoswami]

Originally Posted by vshetty

1) From what was said, weirdly it seems like TATA is unhappy with FIAT about not bringing in new models and not churning out volumes why does Tata care ?

2) Now it is a known fact that the fat-bosses in FIAT India division are a bunch of non-achievers - no advertisements, no marketing, no brand-building for any of their products, and obviously lack of grey matter, here is a plan for them :-) :

Albeit, I think Fiat has suffered much more in this relationship with TATA.

1) Yes, its Tata which is unhappy. This means that either Fiat is happy or Fiat is not reactive. I suspect that Tata is more interested in technology from Fiat. If Fiat brings in more models, they would also bring in better technology. IMO the Fiat products are quite competitive and not obsolete ( like Indica which was again revitalized after Vista could not make a big mark ). That is what Tata is interested in.
Second reason might be that the dealers are complaining about low volumes.

2) I agree with you on this one. They are just not aware of India it seems. The method of selling cars through Tata makes them think that their job is now over, but that far from it.

Apart from marketing, Fiat needs to have its independent network of A.S & S. centers atleast. The customer of Fiat many times end up thinking as if the company has left India. My friend has Palio ( his family bought that when there was waiting list for Palio ) and he says that many parts are not with TASS, and eventually, Indica parts are installed.

Fiat needs to rethink what they are upto. The relative latecomers like Hyundai are on a different orbit, and VW, toyota, and the likes who came in real late are actually doing better than Fiat.

[sharma_sanjeevi]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Apart from marketing, Fiat needs to have its independent network of A.S & S. centers atleast.

Wait for a month or so, the FIAT Brand Stores are coming up in Pune & Delhi CP.

However, i agree on the Palio part that, if FIAT could launch the Palio MJD with its classic looks and a price tag of 4.5L & whole interior revamp, it could have been a game changer for them. But the saddistic approach of the FIAT India Management towards the Indian Market is slowly killing 2 Very competitive products Grande Punto & Linea.

Wake up FIAT..!!

[CoolFire]

Should be extremely positive for Fiat over the long run if TATA walks out of the partnership. Ultimately they will be forced to make a solitary move, which they ought to have done way back.

[mac187]

if FIAT could launch the Palio MJD with its classic looks

Isn't Palio Stile doing the same thing?

[pacman2881]

Originally Posted by vshetty

From what was said, weirdly it seems like TATA is unhappy with FIAT about not bringing in new models and not churning out volumes why does Tata care ?

Being a partner in the 50:50 JV, Tata will be concerned if the venture is not reaching it's potential. But the question remains whether this is due to Fiat's slow reaction to the market or it is due to Tata's back end.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by mac187

if FIAT could launch the Palio MJD with its classic looks Isn't Palio Stile doing the same thing?

Fiat has to sort out the issues they are crippled with rather than having newer launches.
They have to start with Fiat owned dealerships, improve the image, improve the fit and finish like interiors, niggling problems etc. etc
Surprising Fiat is not new to the India customer,but seem to be direction less in their strategies.

Cheers!

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by mac187

if FIAT could launch the Palio MJD with its classic looks

Isn't Palio Stile doing the same thing?

Production of Palio Stile has been stopped as it was cannibalising the Punto MJD. Been almost a year!

[vshetty]

@mac187, the Palio Stile MJD was an attempt at a refresh which quite frankly was [FONT=Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial]Forgettable [/FONT] , more glaringly though, the interiors from an overall scheme remained the same in the stile.

Frankly team-bhp i guess has done more for the sales and service of Fiat cars than their lousy Marketing & Sales Dept.
I keep looking for an explanation as to why the sales of this car remain at 1200 and I keep leaning more towards the fact; as the board size in this community is increasing more people are finding about this wonderful car and becoming new buyers.

I will also stick out and say most fiat punto owners are learned and researching customers.

[serious_maniac]

Well, actually Tata may be the one who is suffering. It depends on the contours of the JV which are not very clear. If the dealerships are that of Tata, the manufacturing operations in that plant has been taken over by Tata then effectively, FIAT is only "licensing" its products to Tata and responsible for marketing. In that scenario, Tata is right in complaining that bring better and more products to India and market them better.

Who is to take lion's share of the blame is a different discussion altogether.

[ra'ul M]

IMO Mr. Tata is unhappy because of the sub standard implementation of the plans put in place by the top level management. I am certain everyone here will agree that Mr. Tata or Sergio Marchionne are aware of the problems in their setup.

Don't make it another FIAT bashing thread

[StarrySky]

Mr.Tata does not seem to be happy with the current state of the JV. I guess it would be the same with Fiat as well. However, I do not see anything in Mr.Tata's words which would mean that Tata is thinking about walking out of the JV. In some ways, it is positive that Mr.Tata and his Fiat counterpart are aware of the issues. Hopefully, they will push the management to make tangible improvements.

[arjab]

FIAT's problem in the Indian market is after - sales service and not their vehicles.
Anyone who buys a Punto, Palio, Linea speak well about the products, but sadly not about the service.
The irony is that FIAT knows this only too well but for some strange reason they will just not set things right.

This "lack-of-service-&-spare-parts-image" should not be attributed to the Tata workshop network which Fiat shares.
The problem here is deeper - with the Fiat spare parts management. Its about the lack of supply of spares at the right time to the Tata workshop's - mind you its not that spares are not there - visit the spares warehouse in Pune and its crammed to the roof with all sorts of Fiat spares - but when it comes to supplying to dealers - some unexplainable jinx creeps in.
All the big-wigs at Tata and Fiat know this since 2007 when the JV started but sadly everyone seems to be behaving like the proverbial ostrich, feigning as if they know nothing.

Fiat needs to single mindedly focus on one thing and that is
1) the right - sizing of its spare parts supply chain to dealers and workshops and supply of parts on time to all service stations

2) Appoint stand-alone Fiat Authorised Service Stations (like M.A.S.S.)Typically a medium sized 8-10 bay workshop with facilities for running repairs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities

2) make spare parts of Palio, Punto, Linea, Uno available through authorised distributors in the after market (just like Maruti does). This will ensure easy availability of spares in the market and for those out-of-warranty Fiat vehicle owners, it will be a very convenient window to pick up genuine parts. Allow dealers to appoint sub-dealers to retail sdpare parts. FIAT has to quickly percolate down to its customers the wide "availability of spare parts" factor

3) After the above are done : run a media campaign , rather bombard the media, print/web/TV/radio with tactical ad's acknowledging for the past service goof-up's and outlining in detail about the new service experience which customers can now expect.

An interesting comparision is what VW did when it purchased a critically ill SKODA during the 1990's in Europe. They had a project titled " How - to - turn - a - brand - from - hell - into - one - hell'uva - brand " ..and look where SKODA is now in Europe. From the butt of all all jokes, which was never even in the consideration set of potential buyers, SKODA is now an aspirational brand in Europe.

The FIAT brand is perhaps the strongest brand in terms of brand recognition in India, straddling years of indian automotive history. The time has come to overhaul it completely and take some hard - nosed, courageous, strategically correct decisions. Opening brand stores with coffee shops, driving across India in Ferrari's - these things are not required. Because the "aam-junta" already knows what Fiat is and the "aam-junta" also knows what is the "weakest" point of Fiat. Correct that and the rest of the jigsaw will fall into place.

Cheers to Fiat , buck up guys !

[Pyrotek]

Originally Posted by arjab

FIAT's problem in the Indian market is after - sales service and not their vehicles.
Anyone who buys a Punto, Palio, Linea speak well about the products, but sadly not about the service.
The irony is that FIAT knows this only too well but for some strange reason they will just not set things right.

This "lack-of-service-&-spare-parts-image" should not be attributed to the Tata workshop network which Fiat shares.
The problem here is deeper - with the Fiat spare parts management. Its about the lack of supply of spares at the right time to the Tata workshop's - mind you its not that spares are not there - visit the spares warehouse in Pune and its crammed to the roof with all sorts of Fiat spares - but when it comes to supplying to dealers - some unexplainable jinx creeps in.
All the big-wigs at Tata and Fiat know this since 2007 when the JV started but sadly everyone seems to be behaving like the proverbial ostrich, feigning as if they know nothing.

Fiat needs to single mindedly focus on one thing and that is
1) the right - sizing of its spare parts supply chain to dealers and workshops and supply of parts on time to all service stations

2) Appoint stand-alone Fiat Authorised Service Stations (like M.A.S.S.)Typically a medium sized 8-10 bay workshop with facilities for running repairs in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities

2) make spare parts of Palio, Punto, Linea, Uno available through authorised distributors in the after market (just like Maruti does). This will ensure easy availability of spares in the market and for those out-of-warranty Fiat vehicle owners, it will be a very convenient window to pick up genuine parts. Allow dealers to appoint sub-dealers to retail sdpare parts. FIAT has to quickly percolate down to its customers the wide "availability of spare parts" factor

3) After the above are done : run a media campaign , rather bombard the media, print/web/TV/radio with tactical ad's acknowledging for the past service goof-up's and outlining in detail about the new service experience which customers can now expect.

An interesting comparision is what VW did when it purchased a critically ill SKODA during the 1990's in Europe. They had a project titled " How - to - turn - a - brand - from - hell - into - one - hell'uva - brand " ..and look where SKODA is now in Europe. From the butt of all all jokes, which was never even in the consideration set of potential buyers, SKODA is now an aspirational brand in Europe.

The FIAT brand is perhaps the strongest brand in terms of brand recognition in India, straddling years of indian automotive history. The time has come to overhaul it completely and take some hard - nosed, courageous, strategically correct decisions. Opening brand stores with coffee shops, driving across India in Ferrari's - these things are not required. Because the "aam-junta" already knows what Fiat is and the "aam-junta" also knows what is the "weakest" point of Fiat. Correct that and the rest of the jigsaw will fall into place.

Cheers to Fiat , buck up guys !

This is 100% what Fiat needs to do to capture the market. I might also add, that stricter QC could ensure that niggle-free products are being delivered from day 1.