The joint venture that Tata and Fiat had forged in 2006, to sell Fiat cars in India through the already established Tata infrastructure, has finally ended after incurring continual losses over the years. Fiat has now decided to take over the control of commercial and distribution activities of its cars in India through a separate entity, especially created under the Fiat group. Tata will also hand over service setups to the Fiat subsidiary as a part of the deal.
Senior vice-president of Fiat India, Enrico Anatasio, said that the decision was a part of the growth strategy in order to create a greater focus on the Fiat brand. The company has already begun the process of appointing new dealers. The existing 178 Fiat-franchised Tata dealers are being encouraged to be a part of the future Fiat network.
The car and engine manufacturing joint ventures that were also announced in 2006 will continue to exist, unaffected by this development.
Now that Fiat is actively focusing on its network and supply chain, Fiats would become easier to live with.
