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Old 26th September 2010, 23:48   #361
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Linea T-Jet

Going by the media reports Linea T-Jet has performance to rival the quickest cars in the segment. Linea T-Jet may be slightly slower than the ANHC but has the 200nm torque available from low down. This car with the Fiat trademark Ride, Handling and Steering is expected to be enthusiast's dream come true.

Everybody knows the petrol engine will not do wonders to Linea's sales figures, but it will help widen it's appeal at the time when Fiat's sales are dipping and the threat from rivals like Vento is at all time high.

Personally i would have loved to see a Linea with more powerful Diesel engine first. All Punto Diesel variants should come with the 90hp engine and the 1.6MJD should be standard across all variants. Those who have been monitoring Fiat India's sales figures are very likely to agree with me when i say this is Now or Never time for Fiat India.
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Old 26th September 2010, 23:56   #362
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+1 to .anshuman
Fiat please axe the the FGT version and instead the VGT version should be available throughout the Punto diesel range.
And please also launch the 1.6 MJD with the Linea soon preferably with an option for an auto 'box.
An auto diesel sedan is really needed in this segment. And Fiat should be the first to introduce it if they really want to succeed in the Indian market.
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Old 27th September 2010, 00:18   #363
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amartya View Post
The Lines T-Jet does seem to have a lot going for it, but I am not too optimistic about the sales taking off.
And I feel the same way. I guess people who've made their minds up already for ANHC would still go in for it. For T-Jet to be really successful they need to pull this crowd away from ANHC, and I dont think so that'll happen.
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Old 27th September 2010, 07:21   #364
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Agree to the above thoughts that the new Linea may not not really run into Honda City territory. For me Honda's main threat will be always Toyota or the Koreans. But kudos to Fiat for finally acknowledging the existence of petrolheads in India!
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Old 27th September 2010, 09:44   #365
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Hmm...finally a Honda city baiter (beater?) from fiat? 0-100 in 11.5 seconds despite weighing 1.3 tonnes, that legendary ride and handling and good looks.

Fiat, give this car a royal treatment at service centres. Its your last chance. Its now or never. I only wished that the grill was black mesh to go with the sporty pretensions.

Some more pics of sunbeam beige taken from italiaspeed
Attached Thumbnails
FIAT Linea T-Jet: 1.4L Turbo Petrol. EDIT: Now launched-118.jpg  

FIAT Linea T-Jet: 1.4L Turbo Petrol. EDIT: Now launched-119.jpg  

FIAT Linea T-Jet: 1.4L Turbo Petrol. EDIT: Now launched-120.jpg  

FIAT Linea T-Jet: 1.4L Turbo Petrol. EDIT: Now launched-122.jpg  


Last edited by sidindica : 27th September 2010 at 09:49.
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Old 27th September 2010, 10:29   #366
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I think this truly is a hot color.It almost looks choclatey. I think its going to be so much of a tough choice now between colors - Fox Trot, Black and the beige.

The weekend auto shows were all full of praise for the Linea interiors as well as the car's performance itself. I do really hope Fiat gets its act together at service centers like indicated by Sidindica. The fact that Fiat is planning to launch this car only in Delhi, Mumbai and Pune indicates that they are concious of the impact the showroom and service guys have on customers today.
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Old 27th September 2010, 10:29   #367
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CPH mentioned that a K&N intake would work wonders with this car working up its low-end grunt and torque. Should chop off the .5 secs to a ton too.
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Old 27th September 2010, 10:39   #368
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Where are the Fiat Marketing Team

Going by the reviews, this is an fantastic product from Fiat. But have they done enough? I don't think so. If they are planning on launching this on October (even though as mentioned a soft launch in Mumbai, Pune etc.) where are the teasers? Where are the adverts?

Apart from the real automotive enthusiasts who actually follows closely the automotive developments through different forums , Team-BHP being one among them, who else have even heard about T-Jet. If they are gonna launch this product without any adverts explaining the "what's the real deal", to the outside it would simply look like same old car with a different name.
Why can't FIAT do things right, when they've a great product?
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Old 27th September 2010, 10:43   #369
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aman9393 View Post
An auto diesel sedan is really needed in this segment. And Fiat should be the first to introduce it if they really want to succeed in the Indian market.
You don't consider the Verna CRDi Automatic as part of this segment? This has been around for a while and seems to be quite successful, especially with ladies. The only problem seems to be the sticker price for a vehicle with no Airbags and ACC.
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Old 27th September 2010, 10:50   #370
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hotpursuit View Post
Apart from the real automotive enthusiasts who actually follows closely the automotive developments through different forums , Team-BHP being one among them, who else have even heard about T-Jet.
Actually, no one else other than the above, is going to buy this car. If FIAT advertise too much about Linea T-jet being a fast sedan with 0-100 in 11 secs, the public would conclude that Linea is a fuel guzzler. That would kill whatever meager sales that are happening. General public does not know the difference between T-jet, MJD etc. They just ask, "What is the mileage". So, it is better this way.
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Old 27th September 2010, 10:54   #371
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@Civic_Sense: Agreed that this is targetted to the real petrol heads, who actually look for performance. But I believe somewhere in this thread there was a mention of it giving 14KMPL. Please ignore if its not true. Also we are not looking for 10Cr spent on adverts like what Volkswagen did for the Vento newspaper ad.

Last edited by hotpursuit : 27th September 2010 at 10:57.
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Old 27th September 2010, 10:55   #372
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Quote:
Originally Posted by civic-sense View Post
the public would conclude that Linea is a fuel guzzler. That would kill whatever meager sales that are happening. They just ask, "What is the mileage".
Thanks to ARAI, there is no confusion about FE figures nowadays. Come to think of it, when I simulate the ARAI conditions (no AC, windows rolled up, two people onboard) I actually manage better than ARAI figures for my car.

An ARAI certified FE which is close to ANHC will seal the deal for the reasonably informed buyer of this car, if he's taken a test drive.

In any case, the Linea sells more because of its D-segment looks and exclusivity and diesel engine.
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Old 27th September 2010, 10:58   #373
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Verna diesel AT has ABS and ACC. No airbags/USB/AUX-IN/steering mounted controls are deal breakers. These days I am seeing bluetooth as standard more in small cars rather than midsizers. Linea is the only upper C segment car with standard bluetooth (manza being the lower).
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Old 27th September 2010, 11:10   #374
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Amartya View Post
Thanks Mihir for sharing the pictures.
The Lines T-Jet does seem to have a lot going for it, but I am not too optimistic about the sales taking off. But boy, am I glad that it's here.

I checked out the Siddharth Patankar's review of the car, and it was quite underwhelming. While discussing the external changes, he failed to mention the exhaust tip being different, and he quoted performance figures released by Fiat (I'd have hoped that a TV network would be able to spare the moolah to buy a VBox). What he did mention, was the fact that there was still no auto option. I do think that an automatic makes a lot of sense for Indian traffic conditions, but for the larger cars, it has to be a 'diesel' automatic. I don't know the sales figures, but it seems to me that a petrol automatic in the C-segment won't really do that well.

If Fiat does decide to launch a large Multijet engine in the Linea, that's when the automatic transmission needs to be an option. Fiat needs to move fast.
Hey Amartya, Like I have mentioned in the Safari 2011 thread, The new safari will be coming in March 2011 with the 1.9MJD as informed by a source in Concorde motors. Though it seems to be too big an engine for the linea(the 1.6 MJD would be ideal)This could very well be the new diesel mill for Linea. Hopefully it will be the Dualogic version.

Last edited by MihirC : 27th September 2010 at 11:14.
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Old 27th September 2010, 11:12   #375
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Yesterday I watched a TV show (I think Overdrive) where they showed the Linea T-jet. The car has better ground clearance (finally!) and the seats looked like they were made of leather. The interiors looked far more elegant. It sure is going to cost more than Linea Multijet!
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