Fiat India Auto Limited is re-aligning its Indian operations. It earlier marked its presence in India with strategic partnership with Premier Automobiles Limited and launched Premier Padmini. After exiting Indian market for some time, Fiat re-entered the Indian market and launched Fiat Linea, Fiat Grande Punto and Fiat Palio Stile. Fiat Linea and Grande Punto have been successful models that have performed quite well in their segment. Now the company is pulling out all stops to enhance its market share in India by introducing better models combined with an advanced marketing strategy.
Fiat intends to introduce the new Fiat Linea T-Jet model at the upcoming Delhi Auto Expo 2010. Currently, Fiat Linea is powered by a 1.3L diesel mill and 1.4L petrol engine. The company now plans to bring its 1.6L and 1.9L powertrains to the country. The Linea T-Jet comes with the turbocharged version of the naturally aspirated 1.4 petrol and develops a healthy 120 ps @ 5000 rpm and more impressive 206 nm of torque right from 1750 rpm onwards!
The Linea T-Jet will accelerate from 0-100 kph in a blistering 9.2 seconds with a top speed of around 200 kph. When launched, Linea T-Jet will be the only car in its catagory to have a turbocharged petrol engine. Apart from the engine the Linea will also come with comfort and convenience features like Hill Holder function (for hill starts where the car would automatically brake to stop it rolling backwards when you take your foot off to accelerate), Rain sensing wipers, Automatic headlamps and Reverse parking sensors.
Fiat will also re-launch the Fiat Palio in the upcoming 2010 Delhi Auto Expo. The new model of the Palio is already in the markets of Brazil.
Fiat India has 50:50 joint venture with Tata Motors and uses marketing and dealerships of Tata Motors to market its products. Fiat is expected to share its pavilion with Tata Motors at the Auto Expo. Some other Fiat owned brands like Alfa Romeo and Maserati along with Fiat Bravo could be a part of this stand.
