I sat down with Fiat India's CEO Rajeev Kapoor at the launch of the Fiat Caffe in Janpat, New Delhi and asked him three questions our readers have often put across to us through our Twitter, Facebook and comment channels.
Will Fiat India revive the Siena brand in India? Spyshots from various Brazilian websites show a successor being developed on the novo Palio's foundations.
RK - We are working on several product options for India but certainly I can't share with you today what different options we're working on. Rest assured that Fiat is going to be much more stronger as time goes by. We are not here for short-term. When you have to be in the country for the long term it has be based on product strategy. So the time is not right to talk about it. There are several segments that are of interest, several segments that are growing now and one has to keep focusing on where the opportunities are.
Fiat showcased the Punto CNG at the Delhi Auto Expo two years ago, will you bring it to the market soon. Are you considering new vehicles on the Punto and Linea platforms?
RK - The CNG variant is a possibility any day but I feel the distribution for the CNG is not mature enough to bring it into non commercial use. As the network keeps maturing the time will become better and right to launch a CNG model.
The product (MY2012 models as one) is contemporary, it is equivalent to any new launch in the market. We are going to continue with this and certainly we will start thinking about can we do a visual change into the cars (facelift). We will work on that. These two products are mainstay products and we will continue with this.
For 2012, will we see an additional product?
RK - 2012 will be used to make these two cars (MY2012 Punto and Linea) successful. We are currently focusing on the market, we need to do a lot of work on the distribution side and make sure we meet our volume aspirations.
Image - Mr Rajeev Kapoor addresses the media gathered at the launch of the Punto in 2009. Image captured by Ritesh Madhok.
