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The Fiat-Tata
joint venture in India is led out by the
Grande Punto (top) and Linea (bottom), both
of which are locally built. However, despite
being very well received by the press at
their respective launches they have failed
to capture the attention of Indian buyers. |
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Tata Motors said today it is redrawing distribution plans of its joint
venture with Fiat as sales number of the Italian carmaker has not been up to
expectations, reports the The Economic Times.
As part of the plan, Fiat will now have its own independent brand showrooms to
showcase its products, although it will continue to sell cars through Tata
Motors showrooms.
"We are looking at ways to improve the sales numbers. We are not where we want
to be [of Fiat branded cars]. We are redrawing the plans to boost the sales,"
Tata Motors Vice President, Commercial-Passenger Car Business Unit, R Ramakrishnan told reporters here
today.
As part of a 50:50 joint venture agreement signed in 2007, the two companies had
agreed to a joint distribution network and back-end support besides
co-manufacturing of products at the Ranjangaon facility near Pune.
Subsequently, Fiat cars are being sold at Tata Fiat branded showrooms but it has
not been able to shore up volumes.
For this fiscal, in the April-January period, Fiat clocked 17,840 units as
against 20,280 units in the same period last fiscal, down 12.03 per cent.
In January this year, Fiat sold 2,174 units, as against 2,215 units in the same
month last year.
"To improve the image, we plan to open image brand centres [for Fiat]. To begin
with, two centres will be opened in Delhi and Pune," he said.
Ramakrishnan said the Fiat cars would continue to be sold at the existing
Tata-Fiat showrooms. He said there were issues with Fiat cars relating to ground clearance,
air-conditioning and power.
"Now these have been sorted out," he said. Commenting on Tata Motors' poor sales
of Indica, Ramakrishnan said, it has been due to BS IV compliance issues. "We
will be introducing a Tata Indica BS IV variant (diesel) with CRDI (Common Rail
Direct Injection) next month."
Report courtesy of The Economic Times
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