Fiat India Automobiles Limited (FIAL) hosted a small gathering of automobile journalists at Fiat Caffe in New Delhi India to inaugurate 2 months of engineering showcase called “Italian Technological Marvels” at Fiat Caffe across India. This showcase will display Italian inventions and discoveries related to Automobile world on a variety of inventions like Electric Motors, Ball Bearings, Microprocessors etc.
At this event, we got a chance to interact with interact with Mr. Enrico Atanasio, Head of Commercial Operations at Fiat and Mr. Jayant Deb, Head of Engineering and Design at FIAL and Mr. Gurpratap Boparai, Head of Fiat powertrains at FIAL. In the question answer session, we got to know some really interesting insights of Fiat India’s near future plans and road maps for India. We asked them many questions related to Fiat’s engine lineup, Fiat’s small car plans, transmission systems etc. for Indian market and we got most of the questions answered quite clearly. Some of the questions and answers from the session are mentioned below.
Will Fiat Bring Viaggio Sedan To India?
Fiat Viaggio is a C segment sedan unveiled at the Beijing Motor Show in early 2012 and has been developed for Chinese market. It is a segment which is above the Fiat Linea segment in India and this car may compete with the likes of Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla etc. On being asked if Fiat has any plans to bring it to India, Mr. Enrico Atanasio replied
“Viaggio has been developed for Chinese market and is not planned for Indian launch in near future, but we are investigating a lot of products which suit the Indian market and may decide to add some new products to Indian lineup in coming years.”
By near future, we assume that it will not come to India for at least next one year or so, like most car brans, Fiat is also evaluating its existing lineup and it may plan to add some more cars to the same. At present, Fiat practically sells just two products, Grande Punto and Linea in India.
Will Fiat Bring Sub-Punto Hatchback To India?
On being asked, Mr. Atanasio replied:
“We are looking into possibilities and investigating several products and we may come up with some products as the market for small cars in India is very large, but we have not taken any decision as of now.”
Will Fiat Bring Automatic Transmission Cars To India?
Since Fiat India has not automatic transmission options in Linea or Punto, one of our Journalist friends asked if Fiat India is planning on any automatic transmission car for India. Answering to this Fiat officials replied that the size of the market for automatic cars in India is still very small and they have no immediate plans to launch an automatic version of Linea or Punto, however they do not deny any possibility of a future launch as market conditions change.
Will Fiat Bring 1.6 Litre Multijet and 1 Litre Multijet to India?
When we asked about the larger 1.6 Litre multijet engine which is used in some international markets and a smaller 1 litre version, used by GM in Beat Diesel, and asked if there is any possibility of bringing it to India, Mr. Enrico Atanasio replied:
“At present we don’t have any plans to bring a 1.6 litre engine to India, we may bring it in future. Also the Fiat’s Indian product lineup is not suitable for a smaller 1 litre diesel engine, so there are no plans for the smaller engine as well”
To this, Mr. Jayant Deb added:
“Today’s engines are not only about the displacement of the engine, its about the torque which these engines produce. The same 1.3 litre multijet engine can be used with different state of tuning or calibration to deliver different performance with different cars. It is however recommended to use less displacement for better fuel economy and less emissions, but again there is a limit to how small the displacement should be. As per Indian driving speed and road conditions, the 1.3 multijet does a great job.”
Will Fiat India Bring Small Car With 1 Litre 3 Cylinder Multijet Engine?
When we asked whether Fiat India will bring a small diesel car like Beat Diesel which uses 3 cylinder version of Fiat Multijet engine, Mr. Gurpratap Boparai replied:
“Small cars are usually bought by buyers who are looking for low cost of ownership and running. For a small car, a small petrol engine makes more sense than a small diesel engine because of comparatively high initial cost of a diesel engine. The running of a small diesel engine (distance travelled per year) must be considerably high so as for a small diesel car to make up for the initial price difference. Also the price differential of Petrol and Diesel may not remain as high as it is now, so considering all these factors, Fiat India is not working on a small diesel engine car for India as of now.”
Some other general facts and figures shared by Fiat officials at the event include:
- Over 6 Million or 60 Lakh cars across the world (Fiat and other brand cars including popular Swift Diesel) use Fiat’s 1.3 Litre Multijet diesel engine
- CRDI Diesel Engine Technology was invented by Fiat in the year 1997
- Fiat Multijet received International Engine of the year award in the year 2005
- Fiat Multijet Diesel engine was launched in India in 2007
Stay tuned to Car Blog India for latest updates from Indian automobile Industry.
