Fiat to launch a small car

@jkturbo: A HUMBLE REQUEST TO YOU TO CORRECT YOUR SPELLING OF "FIAT".

As far as the service is concerned the HYUNDAI service is the worst among the all, as during the floods in mumbai my uncle owned a 8 months old Santro and the car was not starting as there was engine flooding and water was mixed with oil, there being more than 20 hyundai service centers in mumbai not 1 of them was ready to take the car from where it was. so after a long span of about a week i spoke to my FIAT service center who had serviced my UNO for the same cause, and he being a AUTHORISED service centre for FIAT serviced the SANTRO for my uncle and gave it bace in 24hrs. in perfect running condn. After this comes the MARUTI-SUZUKI, my friend owns a DZIRE, he met with an accident with an accent and the DZIRE had lost it's hood, fenders, radiator and the a/c compressor. this job was taken to SAI SERVICE it took 3 months for them to fix this damage and a long bill of Rs.1,16,357/- was given to him as repairs 2 weeks back. I agree with you that TATA A.S.S is very poor as I had not got my floor mats, mud flaps, door sil's from the dealer BAFNA MOTORS from whom I bot my LINEA for 10 months When i reported this to FIAT within 24hrs I had got the floor mats, mud flaps and door sil's fitted in the car at my residence. And for that matter the M-S guys say don't buy the ECCO as it topples at high speeds and rather go for a TATA VENTURE(this was an evidence in automotive an authorised MS dealer). Mahindra service is awesome no doubt.

i wont comment on any other company till i get a satisfactory review of it.

oops....its 'Fiat' not 'feat'. Didnt realise what I was typing. May be its the Beat effect or that I dont see this logo quite often. I know how it feels when somebody misspells our favourite brand name.

Now coming on to the topic, bold text in the above quote is a perfect example of what I mean .Fiat just like any other company wants satisfied customers and thats why their swift action and pleasing gesture to provide service at the doorstep. But is this acceptabe that we need to take up with the company even for the basic accessories? Fiat's tie up with Tata motors is keeping the customers away from their cars. Tata dealers with a few exceptions here and there just dont seem to be interested in seeing satisfied Fiat customers otherwise what is the explanation for dismal sales figures of excellant fiat cars. Just compare Punto with vista and you wonder why?

Now, if Fiat sincerly wants a long term relation with the Indian market, why dont they invest in building their own A.S.S. network. They surely have enough feedback regarding their tie up with Tata. I definitely will buy Punto over swift, figo, i20 but will never until they have their own dealerships at least in major towns.

Regarding the launch of any car smaller than punto, I believe that since they will be entering mass segment, they need to come out of their shackles and have a decent A.S.S. network in place first to have any lasting impact on the indian car market rather than just thriving on the royality from their 1.3 multijet engines.

But then these are just my views and you have your own.And we two are not the only members to influence the purchase decisions of readers/prospective customers and they will also read many other forum discusions on the subject before forming any opinion in this regard.

Fiat is going in corect direction for smaller car for India. Look at small cars that sell in numbers.

Alto - 32000 per month

Wagon R - 15000 per month

i10, Indica, Nano, Estilo all cross figure of 9000 cars per month.

Swift is also crossing 9000 mark every month. Rest all self declared " Best Selling " cars like Figo, polo, Fabia Beat just manage to cross 5000 number every month.

Infact Ford Figo had just touched puny number of 1888 cars per month in Jan.

Fiat Punto is good car, but it simply looks monsters and bulky.

Formula is simple for small cars. Have 1 litre engine, keep weight less than 900 kg, maximum car length should be of Indica V2, width of i10 and height of nano. If 4 can seat properly then it is acceptable.

Start basic model with just AC. Tachometer, fog lamps, power windows, music system, passenger side ORVM, are considered as luxury for small car segment. Offer them for top end model.

basic car model must start with EX Showroom figure of 2.9 lakhs.