Finally, here is a good news for the Fiat lovers in India. Fiat has decided to rope in Chrysler for a JV in India.
Fiat Chrysler India, a joint venture between Fiat Group and Chrysler, would launch nine models country-wide in the next three years,
a company official said.
“The company will invest significant resources to launch nine models over the next three years,” Fiat Chrysler India President and MD
Nagesh Basavanhalli said.
He added that four models would come from the Fiat stable, while another four Chrysler models would be launched and one sports
performance vehicle (SPV) Abarth would be launched.
After Fiat broke the tie-up with Tata Motors for the sales and services of Fiat models in April, Fiat has been constantly launching
new dealer outlets. From April, Fiat has added 75 dealer outlets across the country. “We have given letter of intent (LoI) to another
20,” he said.
Earlier, Fiat had to rely on Tata Motors’ network for the sales of their products for which they had a 50:50 JV with the Tata firm.
The JV would stay as Fiat uses the platform for the production. All other activities will be handled by Fiat Chrysler itself.
Fiat currently has only two models in India, Punto and Linea. “We are at present in the reconstruction period as we have started to
build our own dealership network,” he said.
The company’s focus at the moment would be on product launches, brand building and establishing the infrastructure network, he said.
He further told that the company has planned to launch Jeep from the Chrysler stable and added that 8,000 vehicles were sold in 2012.
This year, the company was expecting higher sales, he said, adding that last month it had sold 1,060 units and the average sales for
the last six months was 750 units.
Stay tuned to Motoroids for more updates on Fiat-Chrysler JV.
Source: ET