Fiat India today announced that the company is in talks with the Pune based utility vehicle manufacturer, Premier India Ltd about supplying diesel engines to the company for their new SUV, the Rio. Rajeev Kapoor, CEO Fiat India Automobiles today said on this occasion that currently Fiat is in talks with Premier about the same deal and the company would be announcing in a month further details about the deal like for example the number of engines to be sold and the period of the contract.
Contrary to an earlier report about Fiat supplying 87 BHP engine to Premier for the Rio, the company will instead be supplying the 1.3-litre Multijet engine which produces 75 BHP of power. Fiat has entered into a recent JV with Maruti Suzuki under which they will be supplying 1 lakh diesel engines per year for 3 years. The diesel engines being supplied to Maruti Suzuki and to be supplied to Premier will be manufactured at Fiat’s Ranjangaon facility in Maharashtra.
Mr. Kapoor also commented on Fiat India’s future plans stating that the company has currently opened 2 exclusive showrooms which will be ramped up to 25 in 20 locations by the end of this year. What was surprising to note that the Tata Fiat joint showrooms would continue to exist as it would be helpful in penetration in smaller towns. The exclusive showrooms can be opened only by those dealers which are currently operating joint showrooms with Tata Motors.
