Italian car manufacturer Fiat has hired veteran Enrico Atanasio to turn the tables against German giant, Volkswagen in the Indian auto market. The company is going through a tough phase in the country with its sales chart going down in spite of producing world class vehicles with contemporary styling and superior fit and finish. There was clearly something lacking in the sales strategies of Fiat and hence the company has decided to hire the 53 year old veteran.
Atanasio, who has a vast experience of 20 years in the sales and marketing division of automobile industry, will take charge of Fiat in the country as a senior vice-president (commercial) leading from the front to give the sales a necessary thrust.
A senior company official associated with the ongoing said "It was felt that an Italian would help in better global brand positioning and in aligning the Indian operations with the global operations soon. There was a concern that Fiat should sell more and focus higher on product strategy. The need to give a direction to the business with new ideas and product overhauls was also felt." Surprisingly in the ever increasing Indian auto market, the Italian company's sales dropped 14 percent to 21,112 cars for the financial year 2011 while the market recorded a steep growth of 30 percent.
Ravi Bhatia and Tarun Khanna, the top two executives in the commercial operations will now directly report to the new SVP. Bhatia will coordinate with joint venture partner Tata Motors while Khanna will deal with the spare parts outsourcing.
There are rumors that Fiat might opt for the same strategy that worked for Volkswagen and Toyota i.e. to launch bigger cars first and then introduce the smaller ones. Atanasio has a big job in its hand to analyze and formulate future business which could turn the fortunes in Fiat’s favor.
