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Fiat to enter crowded small car segment in India with the hope that its price will give it an edge. But Bangaloreans will have to be patient if they want to check it out
A week after Honda launched Jazz, its first small car in India, Fiat will launch Grande Punto, its first car in the B+ segment, across the country tomorrow.
The car, a hatchback in both petrol and diesel variants, is a joint venture of Fiat and Tata Motors and has premium features like ABS (anti-lock braking system) and EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution).
While the petrol variant is equipped with 1.2L and 1.4L engines that pump 65 and 77 horses respectively, the diesel variant has a 1.3L multijet diesel engine.
The race
The small car segment which contributes to over 70 per cent of the Indian market is seeing more carmakers entering the arena to beat the global slump.
While global carmakers including Honda, Hyundai and Skoda already have Jazz, i20 and Fabia respectively in the market, Grande Punto is Fiat's first small car in India.
"The car will fill the gap left by Linea after it established itself in the C+ segment. Our pricing is aggressive as we have strong competitors in the market. The price factor will help us score," said Anil G B, deputy manager (sales), Prerana Motors.
Price factor
Sources said the car would be priced between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7 lakh, lesser than the recently-launched Honda Jazz, which costs Rs 7.15 lakh in Bangalore.
Experts feel the car will offer competition in the segment only if Fiat addresses issues like availability of spares and inadequate service.
"The car is promising too as it's a Tata-Fiat joint venture. But non-availability of spares in time and insufficient service network may hamper their sales," said M R Indresh, an automobile expert. But other car dealers don't feel threatened by the Grande Punto.
"Every company is coming with better products these days. That can't be a threat to a proven brand like Honda Jazz. That doesn't mean we underestimate them. We will wait and watch as to how it performs in the market," said Ramdas M, manager, Whitefield Honda.
Will it be all about the prices?
Skoda Fabia - Rs 5.58 - 7.86 lakh
Hyundai i20 - Rs 5.57 - 6.64 lakh
Fiat Grande Punto - Rs 5 - 7 lakh (expected)
Maruti Ritz - Rs 3.88 - 4.93 lakh
Honda Jazz - Rs 6.98 - 7.33 lakh
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Italian car major Fiat on Wednesday launched its much-awaited premium small car Grande Punto in both petrol and diesel variants in the Indian market, priced between Rs 3.99 lakh (Rs 399,000) and Rs 6.11 lakh (Rs 611,000), ex-showroom, Delhi.
"The launch of Grande Punto marks a new milestone for Fiat in India as we bring the quintessentially Italian designs to Indian shores," Fiat India Automobiles Ltd (FIAL) chief executive officer Rajeev Kapoor said in New Delhi
The company believes that the small-car segment is under-tapped and customers are increasingly looking forward to international brands on Indian roads, he added.
Grande Punto, which was first launched in the European market in 2005, would be rolled out from the company's plant at Ranjangaon in Maharashtra in four variants each in both petrol (1.2 litre an 1.4 litre) and diesel modes (1.3 litre).
The petrol variants would cost Rs 3.99-5.61 lakh (Rs 399,000-561,000), while the diesel cars would be offered at Rs 4.85-6.11 lakh (Rs 485,000-611,000).
FIAL, a 50:50 joint venture between Italy-based Fiat SpA and domestic auto major Tata Motors, plans to position the car in the premium hatchback segment along with Maruti Suzuki's Ritz, Hyundai's i20, Skoda's Fabia and Honda Siel's Jazz.
The company said Grande Punto would be retailed through over 100 Tata-Fiat dealers network across the country.
The company's Ranjangaon facility has a production capacity of 200,000 cars and 300,000 engines per annum. It produces Palio Stile and Linea from the plant.
It's fast..all Fiat's are fast..italian cars are known to be easy to accelarate...Fiat however has a terrible reputation with it's electronics and from personal experience having driven a cinquecento and a stillo for quite some time, well the cinquecento was ok since there was not much electronics involved on it other than the very basics, while the stilo, was every couple of weeks for inspection with airbag module bulb going on, engine check bulb and so on...still it's a pretty popular brand in Greece and in Europe in general cause like I said, it's accelarating fast and it's quite affordable...Also the quality of the interior cabin is not good...plastic tend to wear out...the stilo used to make dirt marks on my right knee when I was driving...the paint from its plastics inside the cabin would wear off on my trousers
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Last edited by theodore1 : 06-20-2009 at 02:06 PM.
It's fast..all Fiat's are fast..italian cars are known to be easy to accelarate...Fiat however has a terrible reputation with it's electronics and from personal experience having driven a cinquecento and a stillo for quite some time, well the cinquecento was ok since there was not much electronics involved on it other than the very basics, while the stilo, was every couple of weeks for inspection with airbag module bulb going on, engine check bulb and so on...still it's a pretty popular brand in Greece and in Europe in general cause like I said, it's accelarating fast and it's quite affordable...Also the quality of the interior cabin is not good...plastic tend to wear out...the stilo used to make dirt marks on my right knee when I was driving...the paint from its plastics inside the cabin would wear off on my trousers
You my friend , are yet to see a car made by Tata or Mahindra
[intro] - Fiat's Grande Punto launched in India
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