The fact that Fiat has some of the best products in their respective segments is no secret. The company sells beautifully styled cars which are equipped with good engines, are built solid and handle like an enthusiasts dream. Both Punto and Linea (especially the T-Jet) are highly desirable products in their respective classes. However, the legacy of the brand just refuses to let Fiat out of it clutches and the company is not quite managing to sell the number of cars it would ideally like to.
The real volumes, as everyone in India knows are in the small car market. The Punto, although a hatch, doesn’t quite belong to the hot-selling econo-hatch class. So to bring some volumes in the system, Fiat India is planning a small A+ or B segment car to compete with the likes of the Santo and the Spark. The work on the new product is already in advanced stages. The new car is being jointly developed by the company’s teams in India and Italy. The car will be built keeping in mind an extensive survey that Fiat conducted to find out what kind of car the Indians were looking at in the year 2012.
Here’s what the top man at Fiat India said “We have just concluded our customer survey to understand what kind of car they expect in 2012. The product is being jointly developed by our research and development team in India and in Italy. While the styling and designing of the car is being done in Italy, our Indian operation will contribute in component aggregates and reliability test of the vehicle…. The A+ or the B segment, where we have cars like Spark, Santro, etc, is growing very fast in India. In fact, it is a highly cluttered segment, with almost every player present. Despite this, I feel there is space for more to come in, primarily because of extremely low car penetration levels in the country.”