Fiat, the Italian automaker, is considering various of its global cars for the Indian car market. The company has recently introduced its performance brand - the Abarth in the country, and is planning to bring the American SUV brand - Jeep - this year. Moreover, the company will also launch the Abarth Punto and Abarth Avventura crossover in India in 2015. Interestingly, the manufacturer has imported the Fiat 500L MPV in the country for R&D (Research & Development) purpose.
The Fiat 500L is basically an MPV with 5 and 7 seat configurations. It is the third member of the iconic 500 range, which includes a three-seater city car, a 500X crossover and the 500L MPV. The imported model is powered by a 1.3-litre multi-jet diesel engine that churns out a maximum power output of 84bhp and a peak torque of 200Nm. Globally, the MPV is also available with a 1.6-litre multi-jet diesel and a 0.9-litre Twinair petrol. Both manual and dual-clutch automatic variant of the car are on offer.
The Fiat 500L is equipped with several safety and security features as standard including various airbags, anti-lock braking system with electronic brake-force distribution, brake assist and electronic stability control. Fiat India is currently selling three cars including Avventura, Punto and the Linea in our market. If the company wants to introduce this MPV in our market, the MPV needs to be heavily localised to keep the price competitive in the market.
