Italian automaker Fiat India really wants to resurrect itself in the Indian market and the company is working up new strategies for products and dealer margins.
The Fiat brand has a very long history in India. The brand was earlier known for the 1100 which was quite popular a few decades back. Fiat had tied up with Premier to manufacture the vehicle in India and it was a hit. However, the Italian company isn’t that successful today. Fiat India has the Punto Evo, Avventura, Linea and the 595 Competizione in its portfolio and none of them are selling in even decent numbers. The company managed sales of 500-odd units in the month of September, which averages at 5-8 units sales per dealer.
Such low sales are not feasible for dealers too as they run into losses and many of them have exited their business with Fiat. The company’s new CEO Kevin Flynn has been working hard on restructuring the brand’s strategies and in recent times, he visited as many as 26 dealers himself. Kevin has been discussing a better margin structure for dealers so that they stay in business. The company is also working on a new product line-up that is desperately needed.
Fiat will be launching the Abarth Punto and Avventura models in the Indian market soon. The company aims to attract a lot of buyers with these two vehicles and eventually expand their customer base by targeting other prospective buyers towards the regular Punto Evo and Avventura models. The automaker is also working on its sales, marketing and after-sales strategies and will also aim to make spare parts more easily available.
FCA will also launch the Jeep brand in India in the near future. The brand will be launched at the 2016 Auto Expo and a newly-developed model will be showcased by 2017 which will be manufactured in India and sold overseas. The company is also studying the feasibility of a new 326 platform (this platform is used on the Palio in Brazil) for a new hatchback, sedan and an SUV (codenamed X3U). If the company’s comeback strategy works within two years, then they will come up with an all-new line-up of products for the Indian market.
Source – ETAuto.com