Fiat has revealed some interesting plans for the Indian market at the technology meet it held yesterday at Fiat Caffe Delhi. Present on the occasion were Mr. Enrico Atanasio (Head – Commercial, Fiat India). Mr. Gurpratap Boparai (Head, Fiat Powertrains, Fiat India) and Mr. Jayant Deb (Head – Engineering and Design, Fiat India). The Italian automaker revealed its plans to bring the Fiat 500X compact SUV to India next year, along with products from the Chrysler stable.
“Lots of brands with SUV or SUV like products are coming to India. The segment is growing. The next probable brand from Fiat-Chrysler for the Indian market is Jeep. We are also considering 500X. This is also an opportunity for the Indian market. We are considering carefully the possibilities of all the brands,” Enrico Atanasio said.
Fiat India is setting a fully-owned company which will take cars of sales, service and spares of Fiat cars. The company is yet to be named and Atanasio will be the Managing Director of the new Fiat group sales company. He believes that the faith of Fiat India will be very positive post 2014. He also reiterated that India is a very important market for Fiat and houses the biggest R&D centre for the Fiat group. Chrysler India Automotive has 1200 engineers in Chennai, while Fiat’s Ranjangaon R&D facility employs 35 engineers.
Fiat is busy setting up exclusive showrooms across the country. Currently Fiat has 166 joint showrooms with Tata Motors, while 3 independent Fiat showrooms have been opened. By March 2013, Fiat expects to open 80 exclusive showrooms after which it plans to go on a product onslaught. The Jeep Cherokee is on the cards as well, which will initially be brought in through the CBU route. Joint Fiat-Tata dealerships will no longer deal in Fiat cars post 2013, with the Italian cars being sold and serviced through independent dealerships only.
