[NutsNBolts]

Originally Posted by Amartya

I'd attribute it(lower numbers of the Linea) to the launch of the Vento. The Linea has been a steady seller for Fiat (N.B. I said steady, not market busting bestseller), and it is only now that there is an alternative in the Vento in its diesel avatar.

I don't tthink Vento has affected Linea. Infact, people waiting for Vento petrol seem to have gone in for ANHC, an effect visible through enhanced sales of ANHC.

b. I read in one of the threads that the month of August had some days (or was the whole month so?) considered to be inauspicious down south. As much as we'd like to say that for us car enthusiasts, it doesn't matter, it does for our loved ones. Hence, it also affects our purchases.
If that is the case, then the difference in numbers from the previous month are immediately accounted for.


Inauspicious dates should hold good for all manufacturers. Yet, everybody else other than Fiat seems to have gone north. Personally, I think, in petrol hatchback market chock-a-block with 1.2l engines, Fiat has made a mistake by not promoting 1.2 active/emotion. Marketed correctly, this could have proved the dark horse for Fiat rather than the 1.4 or even MJD.

Nice post Amartya. My thoughts in bold.

[motor spirit]

Originally Posted by NutsNBolts

Nice post Amartya. My thoughts in bold.

u said it . I still feel 1.2 emotion with so much features is a real VFM

[Amartya]

Originally Posted by NutsNBolts

Nice post Amartya. My thoughts in bold.

Thanks for your comment, appreciate it.

You are of course right about the auspicious dates thing, it was a wishy washy kind of theory. But I thought I clarify that it was an assumption based on Fiat's doing better in the southern parts of India, and those dates (being mainly for the South) probably affected them more. Anyway, that shouldn't be an excuse at all.

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by krish3

Good point Paddleshifter. They have missed to promote a lot of these simple features for the Punto. But how much of a difference it makes to the sales figures is questionable.

Actually mine could have been one of them. Both Punto and i20 have the option to turn off the passenger-side airbag. It's clearly mentioned in the i20 brochure and the Fiat brochure is silent about this feature. Since my 4-year old son usually sits only in the front seat for his daily rides to school which is less than 2kms from home, I badly needed this option.

I asked the doubt here and our fellow TBHPian .anshuman responded within 20 minutes; I booked my Punto in the same week.

[ntrack]

August wholesale nos. have been low but reportedly the retails have been good for Fiat, so nothing to really worry about.

Yes I also agree with a few on this thread that interior quality has gone up in Punto.

About Fiat increasing nos - providing a better customer experience can make a big difference, which the current Tata-Fiat network lacks (barring a few dealers).

I sense that the new Punto ad has increased awareness, many folds, about the car to the aam janta.

[fiat_tarun]

Originally Posted by ntrack

August wholesale nos. have been low but reportedly the retails have been good for Fiat, so nothing to really worry about.

Yes I also agree with a few on this thread that interior quality has gone up in Punto.

About Fiat increasing nos - providing a better customer experience can make a big difference, which the current Tata-Fiat network lacks (barring a few dealers).

I sense that the new Punto ad has increased awareness, many folds, about the car to the aam janta.

I too feel Linea sales have taken a bigger hit than the Punto. Lets wait for the figures to confirm this. The upcoming T-jet could also be a reason people are waiting.

[ntrack]

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

Recently, a bhpian(manikjeet) from Chandigarh had to go through a lot because of this issue.
One of the most important thing to do at the time of PDI is a test drive. Dents, scratches can be rectified but a drag/pulling problem may be due to a serious fault in the car's mechanical components which rarely gets rectified.
I've seen some M800 owner back in 2000, visiting MASS repeatedly and trying to get his M800 drag corrected. In the end, he stopped visiting MASS.

My Optra Magnum also had a severe problem of left pulling which was due to afaulty lot of Apollo Accelere tyres. Replacing them has solved the problem.
IMHO no car should have this problem, it is either due to bad tyres or inappropriate alignment settings.

[PaddleShifter]

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

Actually mine could have been one of them. Both Punto and i20 have the option to turn off the passenger-side airbag. It's clearly mentioned in the i20 brochure and the Fiat brochure is silent about this feature. Since my 4-year old son usually sits only in the front seat for his daily rides to school which is less than 2kms from home, I badly needed this option.

I asked the doubt here and our fellow TBHPian .anshuman responded within 20 minutes; I booked my Punto in the same week.

Yes. In fact, many people say that the equipment list of i20 is huge when comparing hatchbacks like Punto, i20, Polo, Micra and Jazz.

When I was comparing i20 and Punto, even I was attracted towards i20 for some time because of some small but interesting features like Rear AC vents etc.

Later on, I realized that most of the features are present on Punto as well that Fiat has left it for me to figure out rather than highlighting them in the brochure.
i20 has glove box cooling, electrically folding ORVMs but then Punto has Blue&Me.

[MCR]

Just completed the PDI of our second Punto. Looks awesome in Bossa nova white.
Compared to my 2009 Punto, The interior plastic quality aswell as the fit and finish have improved a lot.

[manishk83]

Originally Posted by GTO

A little known fact is that all Mercedes' sold in India pull slightly to the left.

I am a very recent entrant into the world of automobiles having 4 feet. Recently purchased a used Accent CRDi. My car too pulls towards the left (when I'm not holding the steering wheel). But, I always put it down to the fact that roads are always built having a small gradient so that rain-water goes out towards the side of the roads rather than collecting towards the centre; hence, roads are built with a slight tilt down towards the left. Could that be an explanation? Or should I too get my car checked? Apologies if my understanding of the problem is not correct.

Originally Posted by GTO

Of course, that's not to say that the Punto is the perfect product for everyone.

I'll quote what I quoted elsewhere: Punto has some bad qualities.Period. But they are not necessarily much worse than competition. However, when you love something so much, you expect more. When you expect more, you demand more. When you demand more (and it's not fulfilled), your heartbreak's more.

If nothing else, I'll say this. Punto could have used lower tensile or lower weight steel for it's cars, saved money and passed it on to the customer. They chose not to do it. Inspite of the possibility of losing sales. However, it again comes to this: When you love more, you expect so much more. (which other car has been discussed to 182 pages & counting, inspite of so many bashing it??)

Originally Posted by krish3

FIAT just doesn't appeal to everyone.

Not sure how you meant it but lookwise, yes you're correct. There are just so many ppl who don't like Punto's looks that it surprises me sometimes & helps me remember that the journey to understanding people's minds & thoughts is never-ending.

And the not-liking-the-looks part is somehow more true for girls. Your experience too?

Originally Posted by krish3

About the ad-: They could have used a better theme to show all the features of the car, instead of showing that a thief can't break-in like in a maruti.

Just something I posted somewhere else: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...-critique.html

Fiat Punto 90 hp: (had to start with it)

What’s right:
They’re advertising


What’s not:
1. They’re talking about GG designing the car. Hardly the message that’ll strike a cord with the masses – useful seconds wasted
2. The thief can’t steal the car – doesn’t emphatically put across the message as to why; secondly, I believe, as Indians, we trust the enterprising nature of our thiefs to be able to find a way out against any security feature – not a USP
3. Setting – Dark-ish, underground (presumably!) parking lot doesn’t come across as an exciting setting
4. Azure colored car – heck even the black would have been better to bring an excitement for the car, red would definitely have been tops. Compare that with the striking blue Hyundai i20 against bright lights in the i20 ad ("parking full" ad)
5. The Blue&Me feature: probably the only thing that I’d classify as neutral but against the drab color/lighting scheme used, isn’t exciting
6. Most importantly, in the humor used (thief not being able to steal the car), the humor is so predominant that at the end of the ad, the thief remains in consciousness but not the ad per se

Originally Posted by Amartya

c. Use visibility as a marketing tool. Places like shopping malls are mushrooming all over India, without renting floorspace inside (which'll be expensive), park the cars outside strategically, with good lighting. Lighting as I want them to do this during the evenings.

Classic! Also, I was thinking that considering Fiat Spa doesn't have as deep pockets as, say a VW, it'll mostly have to take the advertising spend out of its India profits. Just did a back-of-the-envelope calculation:

1800 cars/month * 7L per car (avg of some Lineas, some Puntos) = 126 Cr.

Assuming profits (wtht including the cost of setting up the whole plant which'll need to be depreciated & accounted for, eventually) of around 15-18% = 19-22 Cr/per month

This probably explains why they can't spend too much more on advts.

[headers]

Originally Posted by manishk83

But, I always put it down to the fact that roads are always built having a small gradient so that rain-water goes out towards the side of the roads rather than collecting towards the centre; hence, roads are built with a slight tilt down towards the left. Could that be an explanation?

CORRECT - Half the world believes that most cars pull to the left!!! The Correct way to check would be on a plain road.

Also this pulling effect is really there, if there will accelerate on braking mildly.

[Fiat&Me]

Originally Posted by manishk83

Classic! Also, I was thinking that considering Fiat Spa doesn't have as deep pockets as, say a VW, it'll mostly have to take the advertising spend out of its India profits. Just did a back-of-the-envelope calculation:

1800 cars/month * 7L per car (avg of some Lineas, some Puntos) = 126 Cr.

Assuming profits (wtht including the cost of setting up the whole plant which'll need to be depreciated & accounted for, eventually) of around 15-18% = 19-22 Cr/per month

This probably explains why they can't spend too much more on advts.

Foreget about only FIAT Spa!!!. There are more than 3 groups working in Spares, Trucks and accessories other than FIAL. So it will not be a deep pocket cuts for advt. And just consider the number of diesel engines they are supplying to Maruti/Tata!!!. In fact they can spend much much more on advts.

[manishk83]

Originally Posted by nvkale2

Foreget about only FIAT Spa!!!. There are more than 3 groups working in Spares, Trucks and accessories other than FIAL. So it will not be a deep pocket cuts for advt. And just consider the number of diesel engines they are supplying to Maruti/Tata!!!. In fact they can spend much much more on advts.

Generally nvkale2, good accounting principles demand that costs be apportioned on the "sales" which cause those costs. Probably, Fiat Spa won't allow FIAL to channel profits from selling engines & spares to advertisements for cars. Cars business would probably be a cost centre.

I know this is probably going to the essence of the thread "Test Drive & Review". But, I so wish FIAL could somehow advertise more. Heck, half the people, make that 80%, I talk to haven't even heard of Punto: "Punto kya hai? Hyundai ki nayi car hai kya?" FIAL really need to work hard to, first of all, even make the word "Punto" heard.

Wish T-BHP could run FIAL for a while. I'm sure we'll be able to do wonders with the Punto & the Linea.

[Fiat&Me]

Originally Posted by manishk83

Generally nvkale2, good accounting principles demand that costs be apportioned on the "sales" which cause those costs. Probably, Fiat Spa won't allow FIAL to channel profits from selling engines & spares to advertisements for cars. Cars business would probably be a cost centre.

I know this is probably going to the essence of the thread "Test Drive & Review". But, I so wish FIAL could somehow advertise more. Heck, half the people, make that 80%, I talk to haven't even heard of Punto: "Punto kya hai? Hyundai ki nayi car hai kya?" FIAL really need to work hard to, first of all, even make the word "Punto" heard.

Wish T-BHP could run FIAL for a while. I'm sure we'll be able to do wonders with the Punto & the Linea.

I fully agree with you sir. But somehow since 1998 when first Uno was launched absolutely there was no Advt. They assumed that Indian customer buys FIATs with closed eyes.
Then good running model Uno (without much advt.) suddenly closed and introduced Palio/Seanna/Petra with more ads of Sachin. But I feel that at that time it was so advanced car and costly to maintain as compared to maruti/indiaca/santro that to FIAT dealers were totally unresponsive.
Then from 2001 to 2009 there was just one varient of Palio/petra was introduced. Whereas in other brands minimum 4-5 budget options were available. Somehow FIAT was never tried his best in holding the market base in India. In other words they behave like a typical Govt. way (don't do anything just kill the time). Meanwhile all other competitors went ahead with all skills/opportunities and grabbed the market. Now major jaint like FIAT is just seeing 1% of market share.
Now also they have to be proactive with lot of models introducing in every year, renewal of existing models, treating every FIAT customer as a ambassador and so on....
Only hope is they are seemed to be on nice track. Let us wait n watch and do whatever all FIAT fans can do. Instead of just critisizing, may be a little bit of efforts from our side also will help them.....

[sidindica]

According to the new punto brochure on the website Fiat India, the tyre size for "emotion" variants was earlier 175/70 R 14. Now it has been reduced to 165 size which comes in active and dynamic models. Can someone confirm this?