Last December Fiat announced its plans to revamp its operations in India. Along with limiting its ties with Tata to production and deciding to go solo on sales, the Italian car maker with Chrysler confirmed plans to introduce Jeep, Abarth and Mopar brands to India. Three months later Fiat once again invited us to a press conference, this time to update us on new developments.
Fiat-Chrysler India introduced their new president and MD, Nagesh Basavanhalli, at today’s press conference. The company also kick started their new six-week campaign to strengthen the brand image in India themed ‘Make the Move’.
Fiat now has 51 independent dealerships across India and aims to double the number by the end of this financial year. The company is also working on improving support and has set up a new 24 hour call-center capable of handling 1100 calls a days, along with deploying 24x7 mobile vans for roadside assistance. Fiat has also built a new 60,000 square feet warehouse for spares and aims to supply them at affordable price across India.
Fiat cars will soon be available with 3 years / 1,00,000km warranty and another 2 years / 1,50,000km extension will be available at dealer level. With the new setup the Italian manufacturer hopes to capture 1 per cent of the Indian car market this year and take it to 5 per cent in the coming years.
We think Fiat is finally taking all the right steps – poor sales and service are the two aspects that really affected Fiat business in India. Hopefully Fiat will see resurgence in India as we think there is nothing wrong with their products, in fact we want them to introduce more models in India with their renewed commitment.
