For all the noise, how is Fiat really doing?

I was browsing the forum this morning and realized that on every page that I was skimming through, a majority of the threads were on the 2 Fiats in the market.  It was Linea this or Punto that or Linea v/s xyz or Punto v/s abc.

A newcomer to the Indian Automotive scene would be forgiven for thinking that the Fiat is #1 seller in India.

That is as far as perceptions go.  So lets look at the hard facts - how well have they really done in the market, now that their new products have been around for a while?

I did some digging around for statistics, and found out that in the Hatchback segment, Fiat is only just above the 2 at the very bottom of the market - the Skoda Fabia and the Honda Jazz.  Both priced significantly higher and positioned as 'premium'.  Maruti still sells 40 times the number of hatchbacks Fiat sells on the monthly basis, Hyundai sells about 20 times more and Tata roughly about 10 times more (not including Nano).  Even GM with its Spark and Aveo sells about 3 times the number of hatchbacks that Fiat is able to.

In the mid-size sedan market, Fiat is still way behind everyone else - Honda, Maruti, Hyundai, Ford, Tata.  In fact, Honda & Toyota sell nearly as many Civics & Corollas each at almost twice the price than Fiat sells Lineas.

So what gives?  It is very unusual for a brand to have such a massive disconnect between visibility/noise levels and actual sales in the market.  Not very unusual for Fiat though because there was a similar disconnect with their earlier product, the Palio - much written about but not seen on the road.

Where then is the issue?  Why do we find so many people ready to write about a brand but so few to buy it?  Why does it happen repeatedly with the same brand?

I am NOT saying that the brand or its products are failures - they have been reasonably well received.  However, if one goes by the amount of exposure that this brand gets on online forums (and this is not the only one which see this phenomenon), it should've been the market-leader long back.  Why is this online interest NOT translating into customers parting with their money for this brand?

Its an interesting subject and I'm sure there will be some management/marketing lessons to be learnt from this very unusual phenomenon.  What do you guys think?

Good writeup Steeroid.

One reason I can see: I went to Tata Motors showroom and asked for test drive of a Linea. They said it wasn't available now. That's all they said - there was no "We will get back to you". Then I 'requested' them to take my phone number and call me up. They never called. After that I caught them up at a Linea promo and requested again for a test drive and to call me up. They didn't.

But the story does not end here.

I wrote to Fiat about my experience with Tata motors and that I wanted a test drive. From that point onwards I started getting advertisement mails from Fiat about how good the Linea is!

Morale of the story: Neither Tata Motors nor Fiat care if you buy Fiat cars in India.

As an interesting contrast, I submitted a query on Toyota site for Corolla - they called in less than two hours and arranged for a test drive the next day at my place which isn't very close to Toyota showroom. I had to cancel the test drive because I was busy but they actively followed up for next available day. And they sell what's probably the most reliable and well-built car in that segment.

Other reasons - after sales service, spares, costs - don't know.

I think the reason you see so many Punto / Linea v/s xyz threads is because a lot of people want reassurance before going in for a Fiat so they have a lot of questions based on Fiat's (in)famous past Indian innings.

Expecting Fiat to even remotely challange Maruti , Hyundai and Tata in India is day dreaming. We aren't going to see Fiat competing with the big 3 of India for many many years to come. I am guessing the current level of sales that Fiat is managing is the best they can do and probably they are happy doing these numbers.

The Linea sells about 1000 - 1100 units/month. Looking at Fiat's reputation in the market, I am guessing the best they can do is about 30 - 35% of what City is doing. That's roughly 1,400units (4000X35%). The Grande Punto should achieve about 40% of segment leader i20 which comes to about 1400 to 1500 units (3000X40%). I know i20 did 4K units last month but it was festival time so we can't take that figure as the average monthly sales.Let's also remember that Linea and Grande Punto are avaliable in only 99 dealerships across India. Surely Maruti, Hyundai and Tata have far better reach across our country then that.

Sure Spark is outselling the Palio (4000 units against 15 Palio's every month!) but on the flip side the i10 does 11,000 units every month against the Spark's 4,000. Why is that?

There are still a lot of issues about ASC's, spares etc when it comes to Fiat. Also, you may see a lot of activity online (again because people have a lot of questions and need re-assurance) about Fiat but out on the streets not too many people know that a car called Linea and Punto exist, my own Grande Punto was called a i20 sometime back. This disconnect comes because for most average car buyer's it's either Maruti or Hyundai or Tata. Fiat is pretty much no where on the mind of the average Indian buyer.

Perceptions though are changing. Looking at the performance of these cars by itself, there are about 1000 people willing to risk buying a Linea and 1500 people willing to risk buying a Punto every month. A year back, even Fiat maynot have expected that they would be selling 2500 cars every month.

Fiat in India reminds me of VW in North America. Like Fiat, VW in America have had major problems with dealers, poor service, spares avaliablity and reliablity. In fact, in comparision to VW's reliablity in USA, Fiat India's products are like Toyota here! Still, there are people who swear by VW out there. There are folks who will always buy a VW 'no matter what'. The reason is that VW's are great to look at, finished really well and sport the best driving dynamics in their segment for very decent amount of money.

There is something in Fiat's that make people love them. Call it soul or passion or that something typically Italian but it works and how!

I feel this time Fiat are on the right track but expecting their sales to compete with the Big 3 in just one year is expecting a very big miracle. The good thing is Fiat is going by their game plan on their own not bothering about who is doing what. I actually expected them to bring in the T-Jet when the Polo came in but they are all set to launch it in Jan. That's why I feel they are on the right course. For the sake of the Indian car buyer, I hope they finish this course, because in the past too, Fiat seemingly have been on the right course but somehow lost their way somewhere.

The same experience here. No test drive offered in the showroom for Linea in concorde motors Bangalore. They took my number but never called. If Fiat was dead serious about capturing the market in a big way, I say they have missed the bus or probably they don't care about their sales too much in this peninsula. 'Third level service for a third world country seems to be their agenda'.

Well said Amit, the point very well made.Our inner fear to spend our hard earned money on a product which we will keeping with us for coming 5-6 years atleast, make us visit different forums and either keep writing or reading about the future of Fiat(Punto/Linea) in India. As we all know "Trust one broken will not easy to regain" and Fiat India is very well aware of this fact and thats why they are happy with Punto/Linea current numbers.

But, I have started seeing more and more Lineas on the roads and Punto intermittently at Kolkata. I read somewhere that Punto clocked 2020 numbers in October.

There is another way to look -

Punto - Its is just behind i20 in premium hatchback segment. Swift/Ritz etc comes one leg behind. It is ahead of Jazz,U-VA and Fabia, which has brand name and good A.S.S.

Linea - It is ahead of SX4, Logan, AVEO, Accent, Ikon. It sells just less than Verna.

Considering its history in India, i don't thing it is doing bad. But yes lot to be proven.

That was very well written, Amit.  Excellent objective analysis.

This could explain most of the noise.

Maybe Fiat should do a "It's really ok to buy a Fiat" nationwide promo

When you go to Tata Motors, check how unenthusiastic they are about selling you a Fiat....or even a Tata car for that matter - they won't care when a customer comes, takes a walk around cars on display and  leaves because nobody cared to ask what he/she wants. When I went there, a lady manager was really screaming mad at one of the employees there. The place radiates lack of professionalism.

From a management perspective, what Fiat must realize is that the people who are selling their cars are their nearest rivals as well. A lot of people do not consider Fiat as an option at all when deciding on which car to buy. It will take its own sweet time to change.

However, the people who actually look at fiat also consider Tata as an option. though I beleive fiat cars are much more refined and look far batter than Tata, but the attitude of tata dealers do discourage a number of people. I too wanted a "flop" model of fiat for myself, the "Adventure". Alas, given the attitude of the sales guys at the local Tata dealership, it made me give up that ambition and sometime later I chose Maruti. Maruti dealers on the other hand, have not only been very keen to sell, but almost all service stations in Noida are also very keen to service my car.

I personally beleive that if Fiat has to sell more it has to re-look at its association with its competitor. Either go on its own, or ask Tata to have dedicated sales team to push only Fiat.