With an effort to increase its retail strength in India, Tata-Fiat joint venture plans to roll out around 100 to 150 outlets under the brand name Tata Fiat. Following this, the alliance launched the Italian-styled Fiat Linea in the National capital.
Speaking to IndiaRetailing, Tarun Khanna, head — marketing, Fiat India said, “Tata Motors has a strong stand-alone service network. Our alliance with Tata will help us to extend our services across the country.”
Talking about retail expansion, he further said, “Presently the company has 70 newly-launched Tata Fiat outlets across the country. Depending on the consumer response, we have planned to open around 100 to 150 more Tata Fiat outlets by financial year 2009-end.”
The mid-sized sedan Fiat Linea has three variants in both petrol and diesel that include Active, Dynamic and Emotions. The two 1.4-litre petrol versions will cost Rs 6.17 lakh and Rs 6.98 lakh while the diesel options fitted with the 1.3 multi-jet engine will be priced at Rs 7.10 lakh and Rs 8.35 lakh. On this group bets a sales turnover of 50,000 units for FY 09 out of which they expect 24,000 units with Tata Linea alone.
Commenting on the development, Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India said, “Fiat has kept its promise of making this an exciting year for its customers. The launch of the Linea is the first in the line of three launches that Fiat would undertake this year. The other two being Bravo and Grande Punto. With this, we are looking for a sales target for 50, 000 units for FY 09-10.”
Fiat Linea will be manufactured in the Ranjangaon plant near Pune and will be available in four colours at the time of the launch, Flamenco Red, Minimal Grey, Perla Champagne and Hip Hop Black.
— Akansha Srivastava
