Fiat India - Sales Thread

Its not just the investment cost, at the time when all the companies world-wide, is entering to India, Fiat will not leave. Know why, because future of any automobile companies is in India/China and other developing countries.
Fiat is doing excellent in Brazil and South Africa, other 2 major developing countries.

They just need to listen to existing/perspective buyers, do some changes (first they need to fire QA head and Marketing head :wink: ) and they will be doing good :redcar .

 

I feel disheartened to read all this about Fiat. I've not lost peace of mind but now it is getting a bit disturbed when I read all this. :cry:

Punto has been my darling ever since I drove her in Need For Speed: Most Wanted.

But, I don't have the capacity to spend 6-7lacs on my hobbies/passions(which it would turn out to be if Fiat is really not interested in our market). I want to see Fiat for at least another 5 years in India even if they don't want to take this market seriously.

 

Thanks. I hope so. Even I believe Fiat is making a decent come back ::V

I've never tried to let that happen. My comment was based on what all I've been reading first at other online forums where everyone is seeking excuses to bash Fiat and then I read it here as well.

In fact, when ever I'm online I try to highlight what Fiat is not highlighting. Sometimes I wonder if we are Marketing heads of Fiat, and have taken the entire responsibility upon us.

e.g. Here, I started early and highlighted everything about Linea before others. Result: No one could bash Linea. Otherwise people tend to find such threads to go all guns blazing against Fiat ::V

ANHC vs Linea vs Vento
http://www.carwale.com/forums/ViewThread-19132.html

So, no point in scaring away potential customers.

 

Even if Fiat had run a blitzkrieg of Ad's, I'm not sure it would have skyrocketed the sales.

Again I'm quoting GM example. What not has it done? Offering a mass-market almost entry-level product in Spark (& later Beat), irresistible 3-4 years maintenance package to assuage perception of high maintenance cost for GM cars, MD came right down to the front-end appearing in the ad giving reassurances, Every alternate day I could see a promotional ad from GM - direct promotional ad. Still the sales have tapered off to very low against its mainstream competitors.

Also, its not that Fiat is not doing anything at all in Ad & Marketing. It has sponsored Miss India event - photo-shoot of lovely ladies with lovely car - very apt though might not be a sales promotion. It has sponsored a Cricket Series which is one of the best/ widely popular TV slots. It has regularly run free service camps etc etc.

On the other hand, I still agree, to some extent that in any case, considering Fiat is re-entering India after 2 previous debacles & hence may be it should have done a Ad blitzkrieg, Brand promotion to creat the hype. I agree with Amit that the ZING is missing.

Other aspects where Fiat missed out are...

• the niggling small small but irritating issues. These are typically observed in small small non-technical parts supplied by local vendors (2 local vendors which changed parts in my car are Tata Fiaso & Tata Johnson). Its here that Fiat's QC have goofed up.[/*:m:lzr5u6mb]
• Repeat visits by customer to solve an issue. May be because TASC technicians are found many a times not able to resolve/ understand. May be because issues are sometimes caused by TASC itself because of lack of professionalism (professionalism improving day by day though).[/*:m:lzr5u6mb]
• Spare Parts availability - This has been one of the biggest drawback/ dampener. If Fiat wanted to wipe off earlier baggage, it can not remotely afford this & still this is persisting. Whether its code error by TASC while ordering, or logistics, or issue of credit period given to TASC or whatever, this is simply can not be done.[/*:m:lzr5u6mb]
• Service experience not always to the level of exceeding customer's expectation. Fiat is calling customers regularly, recent calls have even started to come of Italy. However, even though listening to Voice of Customer is the most important thing, mere phone calls are not enough. Had the above points been taken care of, the calls would have been more fruitful.[/*:m:lzr5u6mb]

Having said that, I must say that in last 6 months my ownership experience has been absolutely a gem. No need to visiting TASC since April for any small issue. I had my share earlier but last 6 months have been just wonderful. After 1.5 years & almost 28K Km's on ODO, still No Squeaks, No rattles, No Niggles. FE is 9-10 kmpl in city with 100% AC ON & 14-15 kmpl on highways which is wonderful. Car runs like a dream - am still not able to make up my mind to re-hire the driver I had earlier even after the rainy season when traffic issue has increased manyfolds due to potholes. I can go on and on with the list....

VW on the other hand has come to India as a conglomerate which is a bigger brother of Skoda after buying it. It has also bought 20% stake in Suzuki, Indian arm (Maruti-Suzuki) of which is a market leader with almost 50% share. So, it does have a brand strength & strong positive perception. Ad's are not the only thing which made a difference. Ad's have reinforced those already present strengths. VW also does not have any past baggage in India.

Another item is the huge no. of models/ variants. How many variants Punto comes in? I had lost count now. Remove some of those in-between variants which are close to each other. Make it simpler to position it effectively.

Lot of hype generated on Linea T-jet launch 6-8 months back only to see it getting postponed due to silly reasoning of spacing it out from Punto 90bhp launch. Move fast, Fiat. Many car-makers are entering India with aggressive propositions.

@Fiat - Quickly take care of these 4-5 points, launch series of Ad's, Campaigns, Sales Promotions, etc etc, & 1000 Linea's p.m. & 2500 Punto's p.m. are not very far. But Will ya listen & act fast?

 

Just came across this thread by someone and it just shows how better ADs can promote a product in short period of time. Fiat should learn from VW.

http://www.carwale.com/forums/ViewThread-19371.html

I read The Tribune but seems like only TOI had this ad. Did anyone else see this ad? I'll get one TOI for myself in the meantime.

 

Re: August 2010

Pathetic Sales continues - Just 1,650 Fiats on road in Sept 2010.