Italian car-maker Fiat has been a popular brand name in the Indian market. Sturdy build and refined performance has been a forte for the International car-maker on our local soil. Currently Fiat has about 108 dealership across the country within a span of about 11 months and the Italian car-maker intends on increasing the number to 150 by this year end!
Nagesh Basavanhalli, President and Managing Director, FIAT Chrysler Automobiles India, said, “Fiat has an exciting line up of products for this year. We have already launched our brand New Linea and will soon be coming out with New Punto Avventura, a contemporary utility vehicle (CUV) which will be making its global debut in India. We are also launching the Abarth brand with Abarth 500. In 2013 calendar year, 2.47 million passenger cars were sold across all segments in the country and fiat's share was below 1%.” The Linea sedan has been launched a while ago in the country and the other three due for launch are Punto, Avventura and the Abarth 500. During the period from April-December 2013 Fiat sales was reported to be at 43%. considering the period from April last year to march this year, the Italian car-maker has reported growth of about 80%.
The recently launched Linea sedan is powered by 1.4 Litre Fire and T Jet engines, the former generates about 90 bhp of power with 115 Nm of torque, whereas the T Jet generates about 114 bhp with 207 Nm of torque. The sedan shall also be available in diesel version powered by Multijet diesel engine that generates about 91 Bhp of power with 209 Nm of torque. Fiat Avventura is expected to be powered by a 1.3 liter multi-jet diesel engine that generates about 90 bhp of peak power with 200 Nm of peak torque. The face-lifted Punto is expected to retain 1.2 liter and 1.4 liter petrol engines. The 1.3 liter multi-jet diesel engine shall be available in two trim levels. Upcoming Abarth 500 is expected to be powered by two 1.4 liter, 4 cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that can generate about 135 Bhp and 161 Bhp of power outputs.
The Abarth brand shall be fully imported and the cost factor is yet to be decided. The K2K Passion Drive held by Fiat in Kochi saw a huge swarm of auto fanatics flocking to the event. Moreover, a two day service camp held by the car-maker has also been organized in the city. The Italian car-maker anticipates a gain a strong footing in the Indian market with the launch of these four cars in 2014.
