For all the noise, how is Fiat really doing?

That was very well said

@ Maverick , very well written real experience . It also shows how mind set of Indians are changing & are ready to accept new things which are better .

Posted by Maverick
Also do observe the small things Fiat has done on the Linea, like both sanity mirrors with lights - impressed my girl for sure. The Blue & Me very essential bcos most of us are on our cell phones most of the times. The sun protector screen at the rear - very comfortable for the person sitting on the rear seat as the sun doesnt hit the rear seat person on his/her neck. The rear a/c vents on foot and knee level - keeps my mom very happy . The distance to empty meter reading. The follow me home option. Means i can go on and on about these small little things kept in mind by Fiat and for a price tag of 9.28 on-road pune.

More over and most important thing is you feel expensive and feel rich once you are inside the car. which makes all the difference

Post edited to separate quote from the remarks (further).

OT: A query posted here on discussion by Maverick - containing reference of some accessories - has been relocated to another/new thread in the relevant section - have a look (& participate).

Reasons according to me for high on-line interests & sales (I do not consider 1000 Linea & 1500 GP as "low" sales looking at Fiat's positioning in the market):

1. Fiat's legacy of past obviously hovers in people's minds. It would take some time for Fiat to build better image/ perception. Fiat is in right direction & pressing all the right buttons, still a long way to go.
2. This results in many people who genuinely like the products/ cars but still stays away when it comes to buy it. Imagine what would have it been had they been Maruti Punto or Honda Linea. I believe people would have said praising it from rooftops saying wonderful tuning & how the company has got maximum out of 1.3 MJD & 1.4 FIRE engine juicing it out completely thro' gear ratio's etc though engine specs look smaller. And people would have said what a wonderful package - high FE, long service intervals, low spare cost, lower price than competitors, Class-leading Ride & Handling, Absolutely superb HPS steering, Dropdead Gorgeous looks, loaded & loaded with cleass-leading features etc etc.
3. On the other hand, if there is even 1 small/minute thing some one says positive about a Fiat, there are 10 guys trying to refute it vehementaly. May be because of Fiat's past & perception that we don't trust Fiat. May be for whatever reason. But its a fact. Start a thread & you'll see what all kinds of words will be used. Its kinda anything Fiat does should be a joke.
4. Likewise, When someone wants to buy a Fiat, they're typically skeptical (yours truly included!) obviously & seeks to explore further. When I was deciding on my car Linea was nowhere in picture initially. A close-Friend (to whom I trust for Automobile-related stuff) just merely suggested. Once it came in the fray, it conquered. But still, I was skeptical & wanted to check 10 times. It took me 2 months during which I extensively surfed web, forums, spoken to Palio-owners, visited dealership & TASS etc etc.
5. Believe it or not, one of the biggest contributor to car buying decision making is the Influencer (Word on street) - Family, Elders, Uncles, Friends, Neighbours, Colleagues etc. All of these were very very heavily against my decision of Linea. Some even gave me examples of how silencer of my uncle's 118NE was hanging loose etc etc. The same thing happened in 2003 also when I bought Ford Ikon against Hyundai Accent & Maruti Esteem. How many customers like me go strongly against all these imp Influencers? I guess - Very few.
6. They say Linea is typically bought by budget-concious people. I disagree to some extent - Buying Linea is a risk of Rs. 8 Lacs. Buying a competitor i.e. ANHC is a Rs. 2 Lac (higher price than Linea) risk.

Combination of above points may be leading to high on-line action. Considering all the above points, I do not feel 800-1000 Lineas & 1500 Punto's are lower sales for Fiat. these are decent numbers for a company which was struggling to sell 50 cars 10 months back.

...Continue....

..Continued...

Wanna see some examples of perceptions?

• When Fiat comes with 15K service intervals, they say it was a compulsion to reduce no. of service station visits. When VW comes out with similar service intervals, they say What Quality & Reliability. Wow !
• They say Fiat has done cost-cutting to keep prices lower. Cost-cutting here is directed to Plastics/ interiors. Though am not sure which car in the segment boasts of absolute higher quality of interior/ plastics - ANHC/ SX4/ Fiesta/ Verna. For the other car, they say who wants Climate Control, Alloys, ICE with USB & CD player both, other premium features etc. Now check where is the cost saved more & how much?
• When GP offered some offers as Diwali offers 10 days before Diwali, they say its too early for GP to start offering discounts. When Honda offered very heavy corporate discounts for all cars including Jazz, the same people said that time its merely corporate discounts which every MFR offers & is routine

So, you know, there it goes....

WOW.....

Very well said, Amit (VahanPujari), I 100% agree with you. As I said in my earlier post, thats its only we, who can change the view and perception towards the brand. I know, Fiat has not done well in past, but the kind of products they have come up with is to stay for long and get hold of market and develop trust among consumer.

I loved the way you put it all together, it was good to read.

vahan,am a fiat fan and a linea owner too,i agree with you about all your views,except the quality of plastics,you had asked which other car has better quality,certainly an I 10 which is half the price of a linea has better plastics,am i wrong?

Thanks Pankaj for formatting my content.

I always type it in MS word with full formatting and paste it in the editor, which does not come correctly here.  How do I do formatting here?

Thanks,
Gerald Leslie Jones.