Fiat relaunch & Alfa Romeo's introduction in India: Mixed opinions

One enthusiast says that he will be glad if both brands succeed, whereas another one thinks that Stellantis should instead use its resources to make Jeep & Citroen stronger.

BHPian RedMaw recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Stellantis weighs Fiat relaunch in India

Stellantis, the world’s third largest carmaker by volume, is considering re-introducing Fiat and a clutch of other marquee brands including the Alfa Romeo into the Indian market even as its immediate priority is to firmly establish Jeep and Citroen brands.

Economic Times Report Link

Here's what GTO had to say about the matter:

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

Here's what BHPian shankar.balan had to say about the matter:

I'll be glad if they succeed. Indeed Fiat is a lovely brand. As is Alfa Romeo. What a great thing it will be if Alfa comes to India. But I do hope they don’t dilute themselves in terms of quality and essential features.

Problem is will they have anything at all for the mass market which ultimately drives everyone’s bread and butter?

Here's what BHPian ron178 had to say about the matter:

They have some very nice affordable cars like the Cronos and Pulse, but those are native Fiat platforms. I suspect they would want to launch new Fiat products for India and Brazil/Argentina based on the CMP platform and those will inevitably be stripped down - speaking of which - shouldn't they focus on fixing Citroën and Jeep before dipping their toes elsewhere?

Here's what BHPian androdev had to say about the matter:

When Toyota and Maruti Suzuki can operate with such close cooperation and synergy, why can't the brands owned by Stallantis operate as one group? It's pretty stupid not to combine Jeep, Citroën, FIAT, etc. under one roof so that they can have a much better network and diverse portfolio of cars - will give the buyers so much more choice and confidence.

Here's what BHPian Jeroen had to say about the matter:

I am not sure Alfa Romeo and India are a likely successful partnership. Alfa Romeo tried several times to break into the US market and always failed miserably for a variety of reasons.

I don’t understand the Fiat/Alfa Romeo strategy at all. They have hardly any cars, nothing really new in the pipeline and are struggling in their home markets in Europe.

To think you can capture market share in India with a tiny line up of cars made in Europe is simply utterly naive. Many Western companies have found out that although the Indian market, whatever you want to sell, is potentially huge, making actual money in India is not for the faint of heart!

Alfa Romeo's after-sales service in Europe is almost non-existent. Dealers have no parts in stock even for brand new cars. That is, if you can find a dealer in the first place.

Remarkably, Alfa Romeo has a very loyal fanbase. Truth be told, most of them drive second-hand Alfa’s. In Europe, there is a thriving second-hand market for Alfas including many excellent workshops that specialise in Alfas. They also have access to a by and large pretty good aftermarket spare parts circuit.

As long as you don’t need to rely on the official AR dealer you are good. Although the newer AR are pretty reliable, I have my doubt about how they would hold out in a market such as India. They are pretty cars. And as with most pretty things in life, it likely means they are finicky and high maintenance!

Yes, both Fiat and Alfa Romeo do make nice cars. Not many, but at least they do stand out from the crowd!

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.