The Fiat Group, the Italian auto maker and Chrysler Group, a consolidated subsidiary of Fiat, came together for a joint venture called Fiat Chrysler India. The company recently announced that it has plans to launch nine models in India in the next three years. Four models are expected to come from Fiat stable while Chrysler would launch the four other models including Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Grand Cherokee. However, price of the two weren't divulged though it was revealed that the models would come as Completely Built Units (CBUs). The remaining one is anticipated to be a sports performance vehicle (SPV) from Abarth.
Earlier, Fiat was into a joint venture with Tata Group and sold its cars through their dealership network. Currently, Fiat has two models to its credit in India, Punto and Linea, that haven't been able to do as well as expected. Despite all this, the firm maintains that they have been performing well in the domestic market. The company is into distributing its products independently after its fall out with Tata Motors and so far, it has developed seventy five dealer outlets in India. The company has plans to open up 20 more such outlets and to cover up around 126 cities with 39 authorised centres.
When asked to comment on their market share Fiat Chrysler India President and Managing Director Nagesh Basavanhalli said, “We have less than one per cent currently (in India), which we plan to double each year for the next three years.” 2.29 billion euros (around Rs. 16,200 crore) have already been invested in the domestic market by Italian auto maker, which operates in the country by the name Fiat Group Automobiles India. The company, at present wants to concentrate on brand building, product launches and develop infrastructure network.
Fiat India Automobiles Limited (FIAL) entered into the domestic market in 1997 as a joint venture with Tata Motors. Unfortunately, the deal lapsed and now it works independently. It has around 2600 employees and is located at Ranjangaon in Pune, Maharashtra. Chrysler is one of the top three automobile manufacturers of United States of America. It manufactures and sells popular vehicles like Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands. It is also a subsidiary of Fiat and therefore sells off their cars too. Its major divisions consist of Mopar, automotive parts and accessories division and SRT, its performance automobile division. The company was established in 1925 by Walter Chrysler and was later on named as Chrysler Corporation.
It may be noted that the company battled bankruptcy and later on, Fiat was given 20 per cent stake by the US treasury. Since then the company has repaid loans and Fiat has raised its stake to 58 per cent in Chrysler. It was reported some time back that Fiat has plans to buy the remaining the stake as well that are owned by United Auto Workers (UAW) Retiree Medical Benefits Trust. Reports suggest that 90 per cent of the production would be exported from India, most probably to the Asia-Pacific region. Fiat-Chrysler might also start exporting cars from India in 2015 if things go in the right direction, sources have claimed.
Currently, a lot of feasibility study and research are being done so that the company makes high profits by this venture. With yet another firm announcing India as their export centre, it is likely that in the coming future the nation would become a preferred export hub for a lot many international automobile brands.
