Fiat has just rolled out their 2.5 lakhth car and 5 lakhth engine from their plant in Ranjangaon, near Pune. The company has a joint venture for manufacturing with Tata Motors and supplies engines to them (used in the Vista and Manza). Fiat also supplies engines to Maruti Suzuki and Premier Automobiles. Fiat claims their facility in Ranjangaon is world class in manufacturing. The same facility also produces Tata vehicles. The Ranjangaon facility will be used by both companies to produce more products which are due for launch in the near future.
Fiat’s Ranjangaon facility is spread over 200 acres and employs 4000 people (both directly and indirectly). The said plant has an annual capacity to churn out 2 lakh cars, 3 lakh engines and 3 lakh accessories and parts. Tata-Fiat utilize the Ranjangaon factory to produce the Grande Punto, Linea, Indica V2, Indica Vista and Indigo Manza. The engines manufactured at this plant include the 1.3-litre Multijet diesel and FIRE petrol engines (both 1.2 and 1.4-litres but the T-Jet is imported).
Now that Fiat is on a comeback, the company might need production capacity, as and when sales increase and new products are launched. Due to poor capacity utilisation, Tata Motors started to utilize the Ranjangaon plant to manufacture its own cars. Will Tata stop producing vehicles here with Fiat getting new models and increasing sales? Seems likely. Fiat has invested Rs. 4000 crores in the Ranjangaon plant which was opened by the Italian automaker to replace its manufacturing premises in Kurla, Mumbai.
