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Old 9th July 2011, 21:51   #316
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

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Originally Posted by figo_mba View Post
CBU is going to aggravate the already spare part problem. I think the lead time on the parts are going to increase. Instead of CBU they should concentrate on improving the quality of the suppliers and probably move from traditional TATA suppliers.


I think that statement might not be true. I have Linea and I really don't want to start talking about the problems here. Bad service is also part and parcel of the package everyone buys from the car company.
I dont think with a CBU anybody will expect repairs to be done in a single day. Remember the point of the CBU wont be to generate a lot of volumes. Even a few hundred Alfa Romeos getting sold will do a world of good to the FIAT image.

As for satisfied FIAT customers, just like you there a lot of FIAT customers like my family. Our 1.5 yr old Fiat Punto 1.4EP, has not hit any problems at all, with total service costs not even having hit the 3000rupees mark yet. And if JD Power surveys are anything to go by, FIAT is number two in Customer satisfaction in India. Even the poll on this thread, with a small sample field of 309, has less than a third of the customers saying its "below expectation" and "needs improvement".

Like I said, the service is more of a perception issue. Many a times, with FIAT a clean and successful resolving of an issue is thought as "We got lucky this time".
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Old 9th July 2011, 22:22   #317
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

This is some good news for FIAT fans in India and I have a hunch that they are going to get it right this time.

FIAT in India has garnered a lot of negative publicity due to A.S.S issues half of it I believe is for real and the rest can be attributed to the 'perception' issue.

Of what I have read - the FIAT CEO Mr.Marchionne is a no nonsense man and is not a quitter. I guess he was busy putting the FIAT-Chrysler JV on track and now since it is taken care of he has turned his attention to India.

I'm sure that he would be sending these execs with a clear mandate on producing results and I'm sure that the Indian execs are also going to put in a wholehearted effort which was probably lacking from them all this while. I guess they really don't have a choice it is a make or break situation for them. They can't jump ship now with nothing to show in their resume for the last 4-5 years and I'm sure that there would be no takers for them in the market. So the writing is on the wall for them - Pull up their socks and show the results else get fired by their Italian bosses.

I really want FIAT to succeed in India since they really make some superb & affordable Cars for folks who loves to drive and I'm one of them
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Old 10th July 2011, 19:10   #318
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

There was this news in the Economic Times.
Fiat hires Italian veteran to take on Volkswagen in Indian automobile market

NEW DELHI & MUMBAI: Italian car maker Fiat has roped in 53-year-old Enrico Atanasio to turn around the fortunes of its struggling Indian operations as rivals such as Volkswagen rapidly ramps up its market share in the world's fast-growing automobile market after China. Atanasio will take charge as Fiat India's senior vice-president (commercial) to spearhead an initiative to boost product pipeline and overhaul marketing functions .
Two top executives in the commercial operations, Ravi Bhatia and Tarun Khanna, will report to the new Italian head. While Bhatia will coordinate with the joint venture partner Tata Motors, Khanna will be in charge of spare parts sourcing. Rajeev Kapoor will continue to be the president & Chief Executive Officer of Fiat India. The move to bring an Italian to the top management stems from Fiat's desire to align the Indian operations to the global brand. "It was felt that an Italian would help in better global brand positioning and in aligning the Indian operations with the global operations soon.
There was a concern that Fiat should sell more and focus higher on product strategy. The need to give a direction to the business with new ideas and product overhauls was also felt," said a person with the direct knowledge of the matter. Despite rising prospects in global operations, Fiat India is facing tough times as sales dropped 14% to 21,112 cars in FY' 11 even as the domestic market grew 30% to reach a record high of 25.20 lakh units in the same period.
This has prompted the Italian parent to take stock and rebuild the brand. Top officials from Italy have visited India recently to devise strategies that will help rebuild the brand and evaluate business models of rivals such as Volkswagen. While Fiat has garnered a market share of 0.83% in the last 10 years, Volkswagen has grabbed 2.04% of the market share in just two years.
Fiat may also work on a topdown strategy like Volkswagen or Toyota Motors which launched their bigger cars first and introduced small cars subsequently — a strategy that was pretty successful in India. The company may bring its bigger cars like the Bravo sedan into the Indian market to improve its presence, which is limited to smaller cars like Punto or the Linea sedan. Atanasio, who spent most of its 20-year stint in the automobile industry to grapple with sales and marketing, will focus on bringing back better sales figures.
Fiat India will start a two-brand bouquet in Delhi and Pune, signalling its strategy to aggressively court new buyers. However, the company is expected to continue selling its cars in India through the Tata Motor dealerships. Recently, Fiat has also started manufacturing the left hand Manza for global markets from its Ranjangaon unit. It also makes Punto and the Linea from the same unit.
The link:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...ow/9158088.cms

Last edited by lejhoom : 10th July 2011 at 19:11.
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Old 10th July 2011, 20:32   #319
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

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Originally Posted by lejhoom View Post
There was this news in the Economic Times.
Fiat hires Italian veteran to take on Volkswagen in Indian automobile market
......
While Bhatia will coordinate with the joint venture partner Tata Motors, Khanna will be in charge of spare parts sourcing. Rajeev Kapoor will continue to be the president & Chief Executive Officer of Fiat India. The move to bring an Italian to the top management stems from Fiat's desire to align the Indian operations to the global brand. "It was felt that an Italian would help in better global brand positioning and in aligning the Indian operations with the global operations soon........

I really don't think that this is going to work out unless fiat Spa pulls Rajeev Kapoor and find someone else as I sincerely feel that Rajiv is not the right person to lead a company like Fiat India (No offense intended and purely my personal opinion). This man does have the credit for making Hero Honda the number one in India. But he failed to foresee the future. He knew that someday or else Honda will be coming directly to market, still he didnt make any efforts to make a R&D team to Hero Honda, instead he keep on increasing the reliance on Honda, while TVS and Bajaj started their own R&D divisions. Now Honda is here, and by next year there wont be Hero Honda, only Hero. If he had made the right step at the right time, Hero Honda would have come out of this alliance without worries and would not have faced the declining sales today.

Last edited by shineshine : 10th July 2011 at 20:34.
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Old 12th July 2011, 21:36   #320
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

To emphasise the point that FIAT service has primarily a perception issue rather than an alarming quality issue, I had mentioned in a previous post at the top of this page, about the JD Power satisfaction survey, and a poll on our forum itself. The poll on our forum, though small, had suggested that a little less than a third, ie 31.93%, had said it was below expectation or needed improvement.

Today came up on a thread, here, that has the same poll for Maruti service. The poll, again small sample size be kept in mind, shows that just over a third, ie 34.71% people say it was below expectation or needed improvement.
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Old 20th July 2011, 17:08   #321
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

Cost cutting measures and improved exports of engines have helped the struggling Tata-Fiat joint venture to bring down its losses during FY2011, although production of cars remained low.

The Rs 4,000-crore (Rs 40-billion) Ranjangaon facility near Pune, which makes cars, engines and transmissions for both Tata Motors and Fiat, adopted aggressive cost cutting measures as part of a renewed attempt by both companies, especially Tata Motors, to put the JV back on track.

According to financial disclosures made by Tata Motors in its latest annual report, the joint venture company known as Fiat India Automobiles posted a loss of Rs 243.6 crore (Rs 2.43 billion) for FY11, against a loss of Rs 272.3 crore (Rs 2.72 billion) recorded in FY10.

Tata Motors, the largest maker of automobiles in India, and Italian company Fiat Auto SpA, own 50 per cent each in the JV.

Since inception, the JV has reported a total loss of Rs 1,214 crore (Rs 12.14 billion) since in the past three years.

Rajeev Kapoor, president and chief executive, Fiat India, said: "We have managed to cut down our losses because of increased production of engine and transmission and aggressive cost control measures. This is a result of the restructuring which is taking place at present within the company."

The JV company has seen a top-level management rejig in recent months with Carl Peter Forster, the current group managing director and CEO, appointed as the chairman of the company.

Some new faces have joined the company from Italy and Tata Motors to support the sales and marketing teams.

Several measures have also been adopted at the retail level to spruce up sales.


SOURCES - Rediff, Business Standard.
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Old 13th August 2011, 20:32   #322
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

Tata motors is hoping to rework the JV. This means FIAT is clearly not happy with the performance of Tata Motors. Whatever Mr. Ratan Tata may say, its clear that Tata had lost interest in marketing and selling FIAT cars once they got hold of its engines and transmissions.

Bid to rework Tata-Fiat link

Additionally FIAT is planning to hire new creative agency for marketing.

Fiat Motors' account up for grabs > afaqs! news & features

FIAT is definitely trying to up the ante against falling sales. May be there is going to be some re-jig in the JV or a new JV partner very soon!
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Old 14th August 2011, 01:22   #323
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

Tata is definitely not working hard enough in providing Fiat a premium entity.

A dedicated showroom in Tier A and Tier B cities like many have mentioned
A quality service team with pick up and drop facilities
Lots of freebies from time to time (calendar, key chain, free service once in a while, car freshners and other branded merchandise)
and lots of communication is what it takes to bring in new car buyers.
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Old 14th August 2011, 11:42   #324
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Quote:
Originally Posted by devarshi84
Tata is definitely not working hard enough in providing Fiat a premium entity.

A dedicated showroom in Tier A and Tier B cities like many have mentioned
A quality service team with pick up and drop facilities
Lots of freebies from time to time (calendar, key chain, free service once in a while, car freshners and other branded merchandise)
and lots of communication is what it takes to bring in new car buyers.
It's sad to see old European struggling in India, while the new comers like skoda, VW are able to hold their own. Fiat seriously needs to rethink on their JV strategy. If they really want to change Indian perception about their brand and After sale service they should look beyond TATAs.
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Old 23rd August 2011, 11:09   #325
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

Fiat CEO To Keep Tata Joint Venture, Change Terms

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RIMINI, Italy (Dow Jones)--Fiat SpA (F.MI) will stay in its joint venture with Indian partner Tata Motors (TTM, 500570.BY), but it will seek to change its terms to improve its fortunes, according to the chief executive of the Italian car maker Sunday.

"The terms will change but the project will keep going ahead," Sergio Marchionne told reporters on the margins of an event held in this coastal town.

Both Fiat and Tata have expressed frustration with the performance of their joint venture this past year. Fiat, for one, sells only tens of thousands of its own cars in India's growing market, far less than its expectations--let alone its competitors.

One problem has been the fact that its cars are sold through Tata's network in which dealers tend to favor selling Tata rather than Fiat cars.

Fiat also makes engines in India, one of the emerging markets in which car makers are expanding to reduce their reliance on more mature, less vibrant markets like Europe.


So the Tata - Fiat JV stays. I think both sides have invested too much to just throw it away like that. Lets hope for the best !
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Old 23rd August 2011, 12:05   #326
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

Quote:
Originally Posted by lejhoom View Post
There was this news in the Economic Times.
Fiat hires Italian veteran to take on Volkswagen in Indian automobile market

NEW DELHI & MUMBAI: Italian car maker Fiat has roped in 53-year-old Enrico Atanasio to turn around the fortunes of its struggling Indian operations Two top executives in the commercial operations, Ravi Bhatia and Tarun Khanna, will report to the new Italian head. While Bhatia will coordinate with the joint venture partner
Let us hope Mr. Enrico & Co. at Fiat India reads this thread and other T-Bhp threads related to FIAT in India. They will have enough information and insights from actual Fiat customers and Fiat lovers of our country as to what plagues this brand in India, and get things moving in the right direction
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Old 25th August 2011, 13:22   #327
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Fiat to continue joint venture with Tata Motors

Fiat to continue joint venture with Tata Motors - The Economic Times

Hope atleast this time Fiat will get things right and have their own distribution network.
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Old 25th August 2011, 13:28   #328
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Re: Fiat to continue joint venture with Tata Motors

Good Product - Yes
Aspirational Value - Yes
Dealer Support - BIG NO


That summarizes the experience of Fiat in India over the last few years. Hopefully, both Tata and Fiat will get realistic now.
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Old 25th August 2011, 13:32   #329
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Re: Fiat to continue joint venture with Tata Motors

Considering the Indian Market, The Afte sales service plays a major role in increasing the market share. Hope, Fiat sees this need with a new perspective and re gain its lost glory in making good numbers.
Also, an increase in product nos to give a wider choice to the customer, should be one of their prime objective.

Good Luck Fiat and Tata J.V.!
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Old 27th August 2011, 23:24   #330
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Re: Tata power fails to push Fiat sales

Fiat showrooms will open by Q3 next year
Alka Kshirsagar
The Hindu Business Line (Web & Print Edition)

Pune: The first of separate showrooms for the Fiat brand of cars at existing dealerships under the Tata-Fiat JV will become operational by the third quarter of next year, Mr Rajeev Kapoor, President and CEO, Fiat India Pvt Limited, has said.
“We are speaking to all our dealers to set up separate showrooms for Fiat within the existing dealerships. This will be done on a pilot basis first, and these should be able to become operational by the third quarter of 2012,” Mr Kapoor said. He added that the move will give Fiat a different identity, increase focus on its present products and help overcome some issues that arose out of having joint dealerships

Late last month, a week after Chrysler came into its fold, parent Fiat announced a management restructuring creating four independent geographical regions for its international business, and Mr Michael Manley was appointed head of Asia Pacific region. The changes which become effective from September 1, will impact the Indian business positively and give it greater focus, Mr Kapoor said.

At the Ranjangaon plant, the two JV partners are currently producing Fiat's Linea and Punto and Tata Motors' products Manza and some numbers of Indica cars. Engines for these cars are also being produced, while the company is in talks with Maruti Suzuki to produce engines for them as well

Given that no new Fiat product has rolled out from this plant for nearly two years, and also that Mr Manley has a Chrysler background, suggests that some Chrysler brands, including the generic Jeep might also be made at the Ranjangaon plant in the future

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article2400477.ece
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