Fiat is a manufacturer who sells more engines and less cars in India. The newly-joined Managing Director is looking forward to growing the company’s foothold in India.
Fiat is associated with fun-to-drive cars and not-so-good service experiences in our minds. Now that is what we enthusiasts think of Fiat. What does the common car buyer think about Fiat? Well, most of the non-enthusiasts who are out to buy a new vehicle don’t even consider the brand. Rest others don’t know how good their cars are to drive and how nicely they’re built. So, Fiat had invited MotorBeam to a meet and greet session with Mr. Kevin Flynch, newly-appointed MD of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles India.
Kevin comes with a vast automotive background and he seems to be quite optimistic about turning around Fiat’s fortunes in India. Fiat will be practising a new 9-point strategy to up its game in the Indian auto market. The company intends to give more focus to products in its current portfolio and the Italian auto giant also wants to give more relevance to current dealers. While dealer expansion will happen slowly, Fiat will train its existing dealers across the country to make sure existing as well as potential customers have a pleasant experience, be it in sales or after-sales.
The company’s newest launch was the Avventura (hatchback turned crossover). According to Fiat, introducing the crossover in India was a very bold step and the company will invest more behind the vehicle to make sure it sees its limelight. Fiat will also come with new marketing strategies that will make sure buyers give a serious thought to this brand while looking out for a new vehicle. The company wants buyers to know Fiat as a manufacturer of fun-to-drive cars. While Fiat may sound too optimistic with all this, the fact is that the company has to fight it out with a lot of rivals who also have good vehicles, good service and a much better brand image.
So if Fiat does follow and implement its new strategies properly, there can be some or even a significant growth in market share. However, all this is surely not going to happen overnight and if the company does see success in India, it will be only in the long term. Hopefully with the new MD in place, Fiat should also launch the JEEP and Abarth brands in the near future and not just rely on false promises which have occurred a lot in the past.
