Fiat India is targeting sales of 50,000 units in the next financial year apart from planning a few variants of both its model—Grande Punto and Linea—within the next two years.

“We hope to sell 50,000 units in 2010-11. We are also planning a few variants of the Grande Punto and Linea,” said Fiat India president and CEO Rajeev Kapoor in New Delhi.

Sales of the company’s small car Grande Punto, launched a couple of months back, is picking up, Kapoor said.

“We are currently selling 1,800 units of Grande Punto every month and hope this number will reach 2,000 by Diwali,” Kapoor said. “More variants of Punto and Linea are lined up in the next one to two years.”

He, however, declined to give the specifics of the variants, the company plans to launch.

Linea is currently selling around 1,000 units every month.

Asked about phasing out its hatchback Palio Stile, the company’s bread and butter model once, Kapoor said, decision in this regard would be taken after two years

Courtesy: LiveMint

Fiat India Automobiles Limited, a 50:50 Joint Venture between Tata Motors Limited and Fiat Group Automobiles SpA today announced the completion of financial closure for projects at their plant. The projects involve manufacturing Powertrain and Fiat & Tata branded cars at their Ranjangaon plant near Pune. The company has finalised three syndicated secured credit facility agreements with a consortium of Indian and International banks for a total amount equivalent to INR 25 billion.

All the Syndicated Credit Facilities have been arranged by Citibank N.A. acting through its Mumbai, London and Milan offices and include:

* An ECB Credit Facility, supported an insurance policy issued by SACE (the Italian export credit agency), for an amount of EURO 130 million, with a tenor of seven years, intended for capital expenditures purposes of the company

* An INR Term Credit Facility for an amount of INR 10 billions with a tenor of 6 years, intended for capital expenditures purposes of the company

* An INR Short Term Revolving Credit Facility for an amount of INR 6 billions, with a tenor of 364 days, intended for working capital purposes of the company

The participating banks are Calyon, Citibank, Deutsche Bank and Natixis under the ECB Credit Facility; State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India under the INR Term Credit Facility and State Bank of India, IDBI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India and Citibank under the INR Short Term Revolving Credit Facility.

Fiat India Automobiles Limited (FIAL) today announced its intent to increase its focus on exports under which they have exported the recently launched Fiat Linea to South Africa.

As part of this strategy, Fiat has begun testing new growth opportunities overseas with sharp focus on SAARC countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka as well as other right hand drive countries. The company targets to export 7000 units of Fiat’s India manufactured cars this year.

As a first step the company has exported a batch of Fiat Linea to South Africa. The exported batch of Linea is similar to the one driven on Indian roads. Fiat’s products have been well received in South Africa in the past and cars were supplied to this country from Fiat’s plants in Brazil and Europe. Fiat India expects to receive a good response to the Linea 1.4 emotion pack in this market.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India Automobiles Limited said, “The Fiat Linea has been extremely well received by customers and auto enthusiasts in India as it has redefined the segment with its superior design, performance and precision engineering. The export of the Linea to South Africa is an integral part of our endeavour to reach out to international markets and establish our presence beyond India. We are confident that we will be able to replicate the success of this car overseas as well and thereby expand our footprint and brand identity across markets. This is a step in the direction of reaffirming our position as an international auto giant.”

This is not the first time that Fiat has entered an export venture in South Africa. In the last 12 months, the company has exported Palio to South Africa

Auto maker Tata Motors announced that in order to provide an added facility of passenger vehicle finance to its customers, it has entered into an understanding with State Bank of Hyderabad for financing of Fiat cars. The Fiat cars are available through the Tata-Fiat dealer network.

Fiat customers can avail loans up to 85 per cent of the on-road price, for tenure ranging up to 7 years, at an attractive interest rate of 10.25-10.75 per cent p.a. for new Fiat cars of their choice from the Fiat Linea, the Fiat Palio Stile and recently launched Fiat Grande Punto. This facility will be available at all the branches of State Bank of Hyderabad (except Service branches). This tie-up will provide consumers a single window for availing loans for the whole range of Fiat cars distributed by Tata Motors.

The State Bank of Hyderabad a government owned bank and the State Bank of India’s largest Associate. Customers can also avail the facility at the 100 sales touch points of Tata-Fiat distribution Network.

Fiat India Automobiles Ltd, the 50:50 Joint Venture between Fiat S.p.A and Tata Motors, announced that it is poised to launch both the petrol and diesel versions of the Grande Punto, a mid-size hatchback, on June 17, 2009. The company plans to launch and unveil the car at a grand ceremony to be held in New Delhi. The car is what many would consider a perfect follow up to the Linea which has already created ripples in the C plus segment. Grande Punto will roll out from the company’s state-of-the-art plant at Ranjangaon which also manufactures Fiat’s Linea and Palio.

The car designed by the ‘Car Designer of the Century’ – Giorgetto Giugiaro, has consistently done well since its launch in Europe in 2005. The Grande Punto known for its cutting edge design and robust engineering will drive to India with the numerous accolades that it has won world over. Recognitions for the car include Brazil’s ‘Carro Do anno 2008’ (Car of the Yar 2008), Autocar magazine’s coveted design award and Auto Interamericana 2008 among many others. The car also comes with the comforting 5-Star Euro Ncap safety rating which will be a factor that many buyers would want to consider. Positioned as a large two box hatch, it has been designed to represent three fundamental qualities, namely- beauty, solidity and brilliance, all coupled into a terrific car that has quintessential Italian styling. The stylish car will fall in the same segment as the Maruti Suzuki Ritz, Hyundai i20, Skoda Fabia and the to-be-launched Honda Jazz.

The company has promised to make the Grande Punto a great value proposition like the Linea through increased localisation to the extent of 85% by December 2009. The company is also working overtime to ensure that the car is supported through a robust Tata-Fiat dealer network comprising of 100 sales and service outlets by time of launch. To further enhance customer experience and strengthen after sales support for Grande Punto launch, series of initiatives have been taken which include extensive training to over 800 dealer sales & service staff. New dealer identity norms have been introduced at showrooms and workshops which meet international standards. In addition JD Power has been hired to conduct quarterly CSI/SSI survey to monitor customer satisfaction and feedback on regular intervals.

Hi-res pictures of Fiat Linea

500 Abarth esseesse

While Fiat’s 500 and 500 Abarth are already making waves across the globe, Fiat has added more performance to the tiny 500 Abarth hot hatchback with a retrofit kit that boosts power and upgrades the chassis. This hot hatch is christened as Abarth 500 SS. Fiat recently made a tuning kit for the Punto Abarth and is doing the same for the 500 model. Owners who want to take their Abarth 500 even closer to the tuning firm’s ‘racer for the road’ ideal, can plump for the esseesse specification.. The word esseesse means ‘SS’ in Italian and lives up to its name by giving the car a supremely sporting twist. The £2500 conversion has to be carried out within 12 months or 20,000km of the car’s first registration and can only be undertaken by Abarth’s skilled network of technicians. Their first job is to upgrade the engine’s Electronic Control Unit so that the 1.4-litre turbo pumps out 160bhp at 5750rpm – more than double the power output of the regular Fiat model and very much in keeping with historic Abarth practice. To help with this power upgrade, a new air filter made by Italian specialist BMC is fitted.

To match the additional power, drilled and ventilated 284mm x 22mm brake discs are fitted at the front, together with new pads, while 240mm x 11mm drilled discs replace the already powerful standard items at the rear. Uprated Abarth springs are fitted front and rear too, and so that the esseesse looks even racier, the regular 16-inch wheels are replaced with 17-inch white or titanium colour alloy rims and 205/40 R17 tyres. A tyre pressure monitoring system and unique key cover are the final touches in this transformation to the ultimate road-going Abarth 500. Even though this upgrade relies heavily on modern technology, the esseesse kit stays loyal to the legend of Abarth by being delivered to customers in a high quality wooden crate. Once its contents have been emptied, the crate then becomes the property of the customer as a charming memento.

Your favourite car maker Fiat is back with a bang.

Yes, within few days of the launch, Fiat has sold 1512 units of Linea. Linea which already won many awards including the coveted UTVi-Autocar India “Car of the Year” and “Best MidSize Car” is now earning customers goodwill across India.

Only practice and guidance brings perfection. Though you can practice a lot its tough to find a good guide. Your favourite manufacturer Fiat offers not just the cutest car but also how to drive them better. Fiat has launched a new system that could change the way motorists drive their cars forever. Fiat’s eco:drive is an Innovative, easy to use computer application that will help you improve how efficiently you drive. It analyses your driving style helps you reduce fuel consumption and emissions and saving your money.

The eco:Drive program consists of a downloadable Adobe AIR application and a Microsoft Blue&Me equipped Fiat vehicle.Drivers of the new Fiat 500, Bravo,Panda, Panda 100HP, Panda 4*4,Multipla,Sedici,Dobla and Grande Punto can make use of this program as the products comes with revolutionary *Blue&Me system.

The process is as follows:

* Dowload the application from Fiat’s Web site
* Install the application in your computer.
* Fill your vehicle information and prepare the USB drive to transport data.
* Once done, plug the USB stick into the USB port of your Blue&Me system.

The system will record anonymous information about your driving habits and techniques. On plugging back into the computer, the eco:Drive application analyzes the information and offers tips to improve fuel economy and emissions. You can also track the mileage, and emissions from the application’s interface. Drivers who start eco:Driving can expect to improve their driving efficiency by up to 15 per cent. That means a 15 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions and in fuel costs.

Interestingly, there’s a social aspect to the eco:Drive program called Ecoville,which, while it sounds like a grass-eating cult in some remote village, is really a network of other eco:Drive-connected Fiat drivers. The purpose here is for all of you green-headed kindred spirits to share driving tips and other info, and also to see how you are doing in the save-the-planet-o-metre.

* Blue&Me - The simplest and easiest way to communicate. Blue&Me, the result of the collaboration between Fiat Auto and Microsoft, will change the way you communicate and listen to music on the move.

Using a series of voice commands, without taking your hands off the wheel you can telephone and listen to incoming SMS messages, interpreted on your Bluetooth Blue&Me mobile phone, consult your phonebook and listen to MP3s. Blue&MeTM supports most mobile phones with Bluetooth technology.