The day has finally arrived when Fiat has decided to part ways with Tata Motors and establish its own showrooms in India. Fiat India has confirmed it will no longer sell its cars from Tata Motors’s showrooms. Tata Motors dealers will set up stand-alone Fiat showrooms in 20 cities across India in the next one-and-a-half years.
The Tata Fiat partnership promised huge strides for both the companies in the Indian market. It was a 50-50 venture where Tata Motors was supposed to provide Fiat its own channels of distribution and Fiat was expected to bring in the technology aspect.
However, Fiat cars were given step motherly treatment in Tata showrooms. The result was that despite of having brilliant products, Fiat sales started dwindling.
The relationship was questioned over and over again by the media. Even Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat, showed his concerns for the defunct partnership. Finally, Fiat India decided to part ways with Tata Motors and play the the game alone.
For now, Fiat is only separating its sales outlets. The after sales service will still be offered by Tata Motors service stations. This is a wise move because Tata Motors has a huge service network only second to Maruti Suzuki. 20 new sales outlets will be opened in the next one and a half years. In addition to that, Fiat India will open 2 Fiat Cafes in Delhi and Pune to hightlight the ‘Italianness’ of the brand.
However, we believe that Fiat India will slowly separate itself and will establish its own after sales network as well simply because after sales business has more margins than showroom business. Point to be noted is that Fiat will continue to provide Tata motors with Multijet diesel technology as that still remains the most profitable aspect for Fiat India.
Is it a wise move on part of Fiat India to separate from Tata Motors?
The Real reason for FIAT is not because of TATA.
The main reason is Non Availability and Exhorbitant cost of Spares from FIAT.
for FIAT’s failure before joining with TATA.
Actually TATA is helpingFIAT for after sales them with their Service centres.
It would be an unwise move by FIAT to part ways with TATA.
If they do so………no one will buy FIAT cars.
This is my sincere opinion.
[...] a small car to 2013-14. This comes on the heels of Fiat’s announcement to retail cars out of stand-alone dealerships operated by Tata Motors dealers who currently sell Fiat and Tata’s passenger vehicles under the same [...]
Fiat sales is not going to improve unless they separate the A.S.S from TASS. I own a Fiat Palio MJD even though its just 3+ years old I had to really struggle to get one of the parts replaced. I have been an ardent fan of Fiat but the TASS has forced me to look for other options. The TASS took almost a month to procure a “Clutch Bracket” and another 6 days (two visits) to fix it. The car stalled hours after it left the service center the first time. Few suggestions from my side:
* Make spares available over the counter.
* Train local work shop guys to handle FIAT cars and give them Authorized Status (just like Maruti). This can effectively improve A.S.S exponentially with lesser investment.
Venki
Hope they also set up their own After Sales Service network . I have really had an extremely torrid time with After Sales Service for my Fiat Linea.
Every single time , there are no spare-parts available and the service is very questionable .
Good boY!
Hi,
Just thought I would bring it to your notice, Fiat are not setting up any dealerships, Tata are setting up separate Fiat exclusive dealerships.
What this means is that e.g. Wasan Motors used to sell Tata and Fiat cars under the same roof, now Wasan will sell Tata cars under one roof and Fiat cars under a separate roof.
Thus again Fiat arent setting up any new dealers, Tata dealers are setting up exclusive Fiat outlets.
You can check this out in the times of India where it is quite clear. Quote below
The exclusive Fiat dealerships will be in addition to the Tata-Fiat set-up that we already have. Also, the new dealerships for Fiat will be set up by the existing Tata dealers and we are not going to appoint a dealer on our own,” Kapoor said
thanks for the clarity Sergius, we have corrected at the necessary areas.