New Punto confirmed for Australian comeback in 2013 - Is Fiat India the supplier?

18/02/2013 - 10:30 | Fiat | Nithyanandh K

Fiat Dealership inauguration Noida puntoGoauto.com reports that Fiat is preparing to relaunch the Grande Punto in Australia in the second half of the year (the Punto was discontinued in Australia in 2010).

Fiat dealers will receive the facelifted edition wearing the 'Grande Punto' badge. In the final months of 2013, a hot 'Abarth Evo Supersport' version of the Grande Punto would be ready to rumble. Niche Abarth variants usually come from Italy as fully built up units.

We reckon that regular Punto variant could very well be shipped from India. The export operations would enable Fiat India to improve its capacity utilization which now stands at 50%.

Fiat initiated a comprehensive strategy to increase their presence in the market by parting ways with Tata Motors.

As a vital part of the strategy, the Italian car maker started establishing exclusive dealerships across the country. The next step would be to introduce new products including the launch of the Jeep brand in India, as announced in the group's road map till 2016.

Financial Express reported a few weeks ago that Fiat is eying to make its Ranjangaon factory near Pune as an export hub which would cater to RHD markets.

Mr. Enrico Atanasio, Managing Director of Fiat India told Financial Express that, "There are cars being developed specifically with India in mind and the idea is to make the country a hub for right-hand drive markets. We can export to major markets like the UK, Japan and Australia and many nations in Africa".

If it eventuates, Fiat India would follow manufacturers like Hyundai, Ford, Renault and Nissan that have already made India an export hub. To be specific, the Nissan Sunny (Almera), the Hyundai i10, Mahindra products and the Suzuki A-Star (Alto) sold in Australia are made by Indians.

[Source: Financialexpress.com & Goauto.com]

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