Fiat Planning To Launch a New MPV in India


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AMG

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Fiat said on Wednesday it is evaluating options to introduce a new model in India through the completely built unit route and is also firming up plans for a small car that is likely to hit the market next year.

The company, which is present in India through a joint venture with Tata Motors, recently restructured its board in India by replacing two of its directors.

"There are different routes and opportunity to launch a model in India and the completely built unit route is one of them. Every route is open to us and we are still evaluating,"

Fiat India president and chief executive officer Rajeev Kapoor told PTI.



He, however, declined to share further details such as the model and a possible timeline to launch the vehicle.

At present, the company is developing an India-specific small car at its R&D centre in Turin, Italy, with input from its operations in New Delhi.

"The small car is under development. We had announced earlier that our intention is to launch it in 2012. The exact timing and details will be shared when we will be ready with the product," Kapoor said.

During the Auto Expo in January last year, the company had said it would develop a small car specifically for the Indian market, with 80-85 per cent localisation of parts.

The small car would be produced at its plant in Ranjangaon, Maharashtra.

Kapoor had said the car could be similar or smaller than its existing hatchback, Palio.

Meanwhile, Fiat India has restructured its board with the replacement of two directors. The 10-member board has equal participation from both Fiat Group Automobiles SpA and Tata Motors Ltd.

As part of the rejig, Giovanni Bartoli and Harald Jakob Wester have moved back to Fiat Group headquarters in Italy.

In their place, the company has appointed Gianni Coda and Alessandro G Baldi as the new directors in Fiat India Automobiles Ltd.

It has also appointed Ezio Barra and Giovanni Sella as the alternate directors for Coda and Baldi, respectively, in case of their unavailability.

Besides, Silvia V Blina has been appointed as the alternate director for Alfredo Altavilla. Stefan Ketter and Lorenzo Sistino are the other two directors on the board.

"This is a very routine restructuring of the board. There is nothing serious about it," Kapoor said.

A company spokesperson said this is the first time since the JV started its operations in 2007 that two directors have been replaced at the same time.

"Restructuring has been happening on a regular basis. So far, only one director has been changed in a single time," the official said.

The announcement comes less than a month after Tata Group chief Ratan Tata said the JV has not been as active as was planned and it needs to be critically examined to optimise its potential.

Tata had also said his good personal rapport with Fiat Group chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne has not been translated at the working level of the two firms.

With Fiat yet to make its mark in the Indian car market, Tata had said the Italian company needed to bring in more new models.

The JV company at present sells sedan Linea and hatchbacks Grande Punto and Palio Stile in India.

As part of a 50:50 joint venture agreement signed in 2007, the two companies had agreed to a joint distribution network and back-end support, besides co-manufacturing of products at the Ranjangaon facility near Pune.

The JV had announced a planned investment of around Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) in a phased manner at the time of forming the partnership.


Source: Rediff
 
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Re: Fiat planning a CBU and a small car

Yes a small car which will compete against the likes of Figo is what Fiat needs now.


Any guess which model will come through as CBU?
 
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Re: Fiat planning a CBU and a small car

CBU will undoubtedly have to be the Bravo
 
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Re: Fiat planning a CBU and a small car

Hmm.. I heard something about Palio CNG. Not sure how true it is.
 
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Re: Fiat planning a CBU and a small car

Fiat is better not to plan too much unless they have their own showrooms and service centers.[angry]
 
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Re: Fiat planning a CBU and a small car

Motoroids suggests that the CBU could be the Freemont.

We somehow have feeling that this new vehicle will be an SUV. For most of the SUVs in the Rs. 16-22 lakh range are brought to India via the CBU route, and still manage to sell respectable numbers as there aren’t any cheaper options available. We stumbled upon the Fiat Freemont trying to research Fiat’s range of vehicles. The Freemont is what once used to the Dodge Journey. Fiat’s takeover of Chrysler has given them access to the company’s model range, and Journey, or the Freemont is the car that seems to be suiting the Indian requirement for a CBU option the most.
The Freemont is a proper seven seater SUV which is currently being made in Mexico. Showcased first at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, the Freemont was first introduced to the Italian market. While the car was available with big petrol engines in its Dodge Journey guise, the Freemont avatar will see it relying on petrol powerplant, especially if it is imported to India – a market where petrol engines just don’t work for big SUVs.
Available with two 2.0-liter turbo diesel variants producing 140 and 170 PS of power, and upto 350Nm of torque, the engine for the Freemont are bang on the money. There is a choice of manual and automatic transmission available internationally. Both 4×2 and 4×4 variants are available too.
The Freemont internationally comes loaded with safety features such as 7 airbags, ESP, Hill Holder and ERM (Roll mitigation system), Pressure sensors on all tyres and Seats with child-booster for the correct seating of children.
In terms of features, the Freemont is internationally available in two trim levels with Automatic three zone climate control, trip computer, touch screen radio with colour screen and steering wheel controls, Bluetooth, USB port, navigation system, keyless entry system, Cruise Control, parking sensors and automatic headlight activation.
The Freemont has a proper third row of seats which can be fully folded down. The second row too can be folded down and slid for space. In addition the SUV has 20+ storange compartments in its cabin, with add up to a whopping 138 liters of space. Even with the third row in place, the Freemont can fit as many as 10 suitcases equivalent to up to 1,461 litres.
If at all Fiat plans to bring the Freemont to India, it will first showcase it at the 2012 Auto Expo. We are sure there will be a few more official statements from the company before that to further help us ascertain what new CBU is going to be. Till then, the Freemont looks like a more than good guess. What do you think?
 

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Fiat has bought Dodge.

thats NOT A FIAT!!!!! Its a Dodge Journey Also its more of a MPV cross over with SUV

I bet you didnt think it to be worth your time to read the quoted text, or for that matter even the highlighted portion of the quoted text.
 
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Re: Fiat planning a CBU and a small car

Looking good satisfied with the looks , though would have liked it if it was a little taller. If they can make this compete with the likes of Fortuner and Captiva , i would prefer this anyday. I just hope this wont be over-priced like the CR-V!
 
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Re: Fiat planning a CBU and a small car

I think unless FIAT sorts out the niggling problems with their existing products, and get some sales going, it would be really difficult for sell anything like this. For the kind of reputation FIAT has earned, there would be very few takers for this however good the product be.
 
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Re: Fiat planning a CBU and a small car

So we called up Fiat India and heard this from their Mumbai representative -
It’s not the Freemont . We’re looking at a (complete) Fiat product… the Fiat 500 with the Twin Air engine which won the engine of the year award is not in our business plan for 2011.
Source: Motorbeam
 

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