The Indian arm of Fiat, a part of the Italian multinational auto maker Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A., will join hands with the company's global alliance partner Chrysler, in order to develop a Jeep. The company's Research and Development (R&D) team is going to assist Chrysler in the designing process of a new project, which is touted to become the smallest Jeep model and could see global launch in mid-2014. Additionally, the Italian auto major has affirmed intentions to launch nine new cars across the globe by the end of 2016. Fiat will manufacture some of those vehicles in the country, besides exporting them to other right-hand drive auto markets of abroad as well.
Reportedly, the Fiat Group is investing an astonishing sum of 1 billion Euros towards developing two new products at its assembly plant, based in Melfi, Italy. The upcoming small Jeep model is expected to be christened either 'Jeepster' or 'Scamp'. Apart from that, the company is also developing another crossover utility vehicle based on its 500X platform, which will possess the Fiat namesake.
Informing about latest development from the company's stable, Enrico Atanasio, Managing Director (MD), Fiat Group Automobiles India Private Limited (FGAIPL), was quoted as saying, “Massive market research would be done from the next quarter for the product (Jeepster) in India. We want to understand the requirements of the market here. The Indian R&D (research and development) team would contribute significantly in the development of the product in Melfi. We are looking at leveraging India as an export hub for right-hand drive models. We have excess capacity in India and are looking at exporting vehicles from here to markets in the UK, Japan, Australia, South Africa.”
Fiat India has also constituted a R&D unit, called Chrysler India Automotive Private Limited (CIAPL), in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The automobile engineers at CIAPL will develop a B-segment Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), which could be launched in Indian auto market somewhere in 2015. Commenting on the company's work on the new project at CIAPL, Atanasio said, “This is a new category. We have not finalised the specifications yet, but product-wise, it would resemble the compact SUVs launched in the market lately. It would be manufactured at our facility in Ranjangaon.” Hence, a potential rival of Renault Duster and Mahindra Quanto could be expected from Fiat India in the near future.
At present, the Italian auto major assembles its models in collaboration with Tata Motors, at its manufacturing facility based at Ranjangaon, Maharashtra. Interestingly, the two auto giants use the Ranjangaon unit at about 50 per cent of its annual production capacity of 1,80,000 units. In 2012, Fiat India terminated its joint venture partnership with Tata Motors, for its vehicle marketing and distribution operations.
Speaking on the company's future projections for Indian automobile market, Atanasio added, “With all these product launches, eventually, we aim to have five per cent market share. Our priority is to successfully launch Jeep and Abarth products in India and develop our distribution network in the mid term.” The company plans to sell around 11,000 to 12,000 units in the domestic passenger car market during 2013 calendar year and wishes to increase the number by two-fold in 2014.
