[srh]

Sometimes I just wonder if company managements take decisions just for the sake of making decisions. A group which struggles in its home markets and which is inordinately late in having a coherent strategy in India wants to re/launch more brands. The group would be better served to focus its resources on the new brand it has in the Indian market and have a product line-up which they are able to sell here. While Alfa Romeo may still be understandable as a CBU based niche player, there is no sense in relaunching Fiat. At most, the group would be better placed in rebadging Fiat products as Citroen in India.

[Pyrotek]

As a highly dissatisfied ex-Punto owner, I would not recommend anyone to buy a Fiat. The car was a lemon and the service was non-existent. I was so glad to get rid of it after 7 miserable years. My experience with Fiat was the reason I chose the Tucson over the Compass 2 years ago. Seeing the current state of Stellantis, I am glad about my decision. Even the C5 Aircross and Compass were emotionally appealing and more attractive than the Tucson, owning these cars brings years of heartache and anxiety with them. I would recommend Stellantis to:
1. Merge Jeep and Citroen dealerships
2. Expand the product lines for both brands with multiple powertrain options
3. Offer best-in-class warranty, service packs, and buyback offers
4. Offer a highly personalized service experience. They should appoint dedicated service account managers (think customer success managers in SaaS terms)
5. Offer a full range of lifestyle experiences (holidays, expeditions, track/off-road days) to drive NPS and marketing
6. Introduce attractive leasing/finance options which offer a logical upgrade path from C3 all the way to Grand Cherokee
7. Introduce referral bonuses which can be traded for service pack upgrades, lifestyle experiences, and branded accessories.

The more they think about lifetime value and organic marketing, the better they will be able to penetrate our market.

[avingodb]

My brother's PhD guide had a Fiat Uno and he used to leave it with us when he visited his son's family in the US. I drove it for the first time in 2010 and simply loved it. I didn't have the budget then to buy the Punto and saw the struggle too.

If this news is true, I will wait and pray that Fiat returns hopefully soon with something that has magic-carpet-like ride and handling. (My Nexon is in its early 6th year)

[desdemona]

Stellantis would be best advised to double down on their extant (exFCA, and exPCA) strategy: do NOT lose BIG money consistently in India like everyone else barring 3 or 4 firms.

Become the technological and financial partners of Tata Motors in India, first and foremost. Help Tata motors' Indian PV brand and ev cars go global, a la the Chinese exporting powerhouses.

Use India as base for technical and r&d etc centres, for exports of engines, gearboxes et al.

Target even higher export volumes, even of fully built cars under Citroen and Jeep brands.

Lastly, combine Citroen and JEEP dealerships and especially service by 2025/26 (when the all new Compass and Renegade launch globally and in India, presumably.)

And add high margin, big ticket cbu/ckd (Maserati? Alfa Romeo? Dodge? Ram? Jeep ev/phev? Ferrari?) retail and service operations in 4 or 6 (8?) cities.

[AW1972]

I would love it if Fiat came back. I have a 2013 Fiat Linea multijet, bought used in the year 2015. It has completed 1.96 lakh kms as on date. I have never had any servicing issue.

Swift became an instant hit mainly because of its diesel engine sourced from Fiat and they were reliable. Any one who could service a swift diesel could also service the Punto or the Linea. When Fiat shut shop, I found a retired mechanic from Maruti who serviced my Linea. Later on I came to know of a dedicated Fiat mechanic in Chennai through this forum and he now takes care of my Linea. Parts are still easily available on 99rpm and Bodmoo.

I do have a manual diesel Jeep Compass bought in April 2022 and have no issue so far. But my Linea is still a way better handler.

So yes i would definitely love if Fiat came back

[FocusAssist]

I'll have a contrarian take on this.

Vision - Reestablish trust for Stellantis (Fiat) in India
Mission - Gain 5% market share in 5 years.

Lets do a quick SWOT
S1- Loved by enthusiasts
S2 - Have a international portfolio of cars relevant to India
W1 - People remember their Horrible reliability (Y% of consumers have suffered a breakdown atleast 5 times)
W2 - Less touchpoints in India
O1 - X% of 2nd Cars in an household are becoming EVs
O2 - MG Comet sells X numbers per month (Small 3rd car market on the uptake)
T1 - Too much competition in 15L bracket
T2 - People switch to hybrid before EVs

S1xO2 - Launch Topolino priced at 8L
S2xT2 - Launch 500x Hybrid at about 15L
W2xT1 - Sell 600e through Jeep channels (600e can be a city 2nd car EV)
W1xT2 - Provide 8 year warranties as standard

[Clouseau]

Originally Posted by GTO

Stellantis already has two brands in India - the iconic Jeep marque (with some great but old cars) and newbie Citroen (with some great cars).

Both these brands are struggling & have their own challenges.

Fiat already has a terrible reputation & was taken to the funeral, after 5 long stays in the ICU (once with a big surgeon called Tata). Alfa Romeo is a sexy brand, but investing in another brand isn't wise when you are already struggling with two.

It takes a lot of work to build brands, cars, plan pricing, variants, marketing strategies etc. Renault-Nissan were similarly struggling & brought in Datsun. Management had no bandwidth, the strategies were clean-bowled and the brand was RIP.

IMHO, Stellantis should instead use its resources to make Jeep & Citroen stronger. The luxury car market is anyway tiny in India for anyone other than the 3 - 4 big luxury brands, so why bother?

Jeep Compass Petrol not on sale in a market that's moved to petrols. Diesel AT was delayed, when the market was hot for Diesel ATs. Citroen got its variants & pricing totally wrong and has 3 straight flops (C5, C3, C3 Electric). Please explain to me who has the time for launching yet another brand at Stellantis India.

Interesting points. Yes Citroen have really made a mess of things.

They could have learned something from Renault though. After the failure of the Fluence & Koleos, the Duster was a success. Sturdy, reliable, and rode like something way above its class. I had an Aug 2012 (All-India 2nd batch) one that i still got 2L+ for after 10 years. Then i had the Kwid which is today India's largest selling 2nd hand car and got 1.4L for mine after 7 years. The Kiger is also doing ok - bought an Auto (AMT) for around 9L OTR. It rides like the Duster BTW.

So basically Renault is surviving on its car quality & VFM.
Maybe i'm saying all this because I'm French
Cheers!

[whencut86]

Stellantis should re-establish the Fiat brand in India and bring in more Fiat cars. This is coming from a Linea TJet owner who just had a very hefty service bill post a gear, clutch and flywheel issue and change of a lot of components just a few days ago. My car was in the Fiat authorized service center for 2 weeks awaiting flywheel and few more parts. Now it is smoother than before. They could still source parts for the TJet and from our own forum, they can get parts from Brazil, Turkey or UK or wherever it is required from. There is no match for the TJet's turbo petrol, ride, handling and steering feedback this side of 25 lakhs. With a tuner, one can easily match the power and torque figures of the VAG group turbo petrol engine currently in Slavia and Virtus.

My car is 8 years old and is still a hoot to drive. I plan to keep it for 3-4 years more and hope Fiat can re-establish themselves and bring in more products in our market. There can be multiple criticisms of Fiat/FCA and I don't disagree with that but once you drive a Fiat Punto or a Linea, there is no going to any other car in today's market without some sort of compromise.

[shresan23]

As far as i have noticed, 5 years and more ago, launching a new car was always a gamble. There was no sub four metre Suv/Crossover segment to push their foot in. I would say, Fiat got the first half of their cars right. Messed up the rear end. The cars were good and Fiat is a historical brand.

I would love it if they introduce the T-jet engine again in India and put it in between the i10s and Swifts. Such a car, with a bit of aggressive pricing and ads, would fit well and even overthrow the i10 from that market. In my opinion the N-line and the NRG, dark edition, and all that is just a cheap shot to sell more of the same production vehicles. Fiat, could break that by giving it in one package, like the old S-Cross 1.6. The sleeper diesel rocket.

If you can recall, the T-Jet linea was just like that.

In that sense, Fiat also needs to improve their After sales service. They could use the collab with other biggies in the market for this, initially.

However, it is best if Fiat doesnt enter the crossover segment.

Besides i just looked at the website, why do all the cars look like some kid's dream? I mean, they look kiddish and cute. Where are the combustion engines? Why are they all hybrid or EVs?
This is definitely not the Fiat i remember.

If at all Fiat comes into India, i want the old school rugged, petrol drinking, smoking Fiats, not these social activist mobiles.

Dont get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with the "social activist" esque cars, with concern for environment and everything. I accept it too.

But, one mad machine that throws all concern to hoots, is expected from Fiat. Atleast from my side

[desdemona]

If in fact, they're considering the new, post-Stellantis merger, Fiats for India and exports, I'd instead argue that, like Europe (by 2030), they should launch the brand as a pure BEV only, loaded up with equipment and gizmos, and with 'premium', 'chic' etc styling, finishing and touches to the interiors. That, at least, is what the new Fiat 500e and 600e are like, and even the ex-FCA Brazilian new models have very uprated 'touch and feel' and gizmo count.

The Citroens can then remain the more affordable and slightly more utilitarian versions of the same Fiats (shared platform, powertrains, factory, etc).

Price the Fiats, pure BEV, higher and spend on 'marketing'. The economies of scale already exist for such RHD Bev Fiats. Share factories and sales & service with Citroen and Jeep. A low volume, high margin pure BEV positioning of Fiat? All well below, say 12-15-20 lakhs depending on the model.

As for the 'hoot to drive' dimension, there's nothing the sport mode on a BEV won't solve if the chassis, suspension, brakes, tyres and steering are capable enough or Abarth avatars (Abarth badges still adorn Jeep dealers and service centres).

NOTE: all of the above is hypothetical, of course. I seriously doubt it makes enough financial or management-bandwidth sense. Still! :-) Maybe if Bev Citroen and Fiats become major exports with localised cost-competitive battery cells, etc. and manufacturing (at least 2 years away? Via Tata or Suzuki?).

Mod Note- Please proofread your posts before posting.

[volkman10]

FIAT has a huge problem even in its home market. Most European mainstream car brands have lost big amounts of mkt share in their home markets to Toyota, Hyundai-Kia, 3 German premiums, Skoda, Dacia, Tesla.

In such a scenario it is very remote the brand will re-enter the Indian market.

[volkman10]

Jeep in trouble as major markets turn red.

Jeep lost ground in almost every region it operates.

[desdemona]

These data centric ie context-less 'data point' based graphs etc are barely useful.

For example: Jeep in China has shut down local manufacture completely, given the meltdown for all foreign auto marques there from even a couple of years before the zero Covid etc crisis. Only high margin imports sold, mostly online and to-order, now.

Jeep USA is down only because of no or fewer low margin models being pushed there: the focus is on the high profits Wrangler, Gladiator, Grand Cherokee/L, and $100000+ Grand Wagoneers. Also on electrification, at higher prices and profits: the 4xE PHEVs. Jeep is, as a result, by far the highest margin, and most profitable marque in the USA, and that includes Toyota, GM, Ford, BMW and Mercedes.

Jeep Europe had been down only because of Covid / Ukraine war, etc. slowdown, and is surging back currently, because of pent-up demand for PHEV Renegades and Compass, and: the new, BEV Jeep 'JJ' (Jeep Junior) Avenger. Hope India gets the latter soon!

Jeep Brazil / Latam seemed down only due to Covid recession, Brazil + Argentina usual debt and political crises. It is surging back stronger than ever, now, and has remained the highest profit margin auto marque in Brazil / Latam, etc.

As for Fiat in Europe: it had been reduced to 3/4 dated models, as FCA waited for and lined up a merger for European market scale economies. The new, post merger models (Fiat will have a pared back model range henceforth, forever): well, there's been just 1 so far, the 500e BEV, which is a hit, and currently the 600e, which may or may not be. And so on. Similar to Citroen: the electrified new models at low-ish prices are only just beginning their launches.

Meanwhile, Stellantis Europe is, by far, the most profitable full line auto firm in Europe . The real, fat Fiat profit centre in Europe is its van (Doblo, Ducato, etc.) business, including now BEVs.

The Fiat brand remains very strong in Brazil/Latam, including in terms of growth, profitability and margins. FIAT is surging in Turkey, Algeria etc, and profitably: new factory in the latter etc. So I agree that they are no longer at all interested in Fiat in India, China, Japan, Australia, or ASEAN. In any case, Stellantis Asia-Pacific and India is tiny in revenue terms. Profitability prospects are dim here indeed, except for low volume BEV import sales of the new 500e and 600e in Japan, China or S Korea perhaps?

India? Little to no chance. Not if they want to remain profitable here, with their tiny Jeep and Citroen sales, but large engine ones, the Tata JV, exports, technical centres, etc.

[volkman10]

Fiat brand could make a comeback.

Stellantis is understood to be evaluating the commercial viability of relaunching the Fiat brand in India and how it could be marketed differently. The Group currently has three plants in India – one in Hosur, one in Ranjangaon and one in Thiruvallur – so it remains to be seen how the company rationalises production for the upcoming STLA M vehicles.

Adding another brand that will use the same platform will further improve economies of scale, and perhaps, the brand that best suits the case is Fiat, which is a known nameplate in India.


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