Indian Autos blog

In 2012, Fiat India plans to refresh the Punto for the Indian market. The refreshed Punto will be sold in standalone dealerships across 20 cities. The reworked retail strategy will keep the customer’s attention on the Punto which could decrease bounce rates.

The liveliness or vivacity of Punto or the Linea has not eroded and the Italian lines have only got better with time and changing environment. But it is a common practice for car manufacturers to keep their products updated. Competition has emerged in forms of the refreshed Swift and the ‘oh so beautiful’ Fluidic Verna. Both the Linea and Punto hence will go under the surgeon’s knife next year.

Fiat India has two options to choose from. They can bring down the Evo variant (outgoing model) or opt for the refreshed variant showcased at Frankfurt’s IAA. Though isn’t a drastic step forward from the original the facelift will go hand in hand with the inauguration of new dealerships. It will give people another reason or purpose to visit the newly opened stores.

click through to read more

Since the launch of the Linea back in January 2009, we have seen Fiat India improve the Linea and launch a more powerful, fully loaded T-Jet variant. Despite these efforts and a staggering product, sales have not been all that great. In 2011, Fiat’ best performance was in January where it sold 947 units.

The new Hyundai Verna has created quite a stir in the market within weeks of its launch. Launched at an attractive price point and loaded with all the features one could possible use when driving, the Hyundai Verna has set the sales register ringing for Hyundai India.

While Hyundai delivered 4000+ units in the month of May and June, Fiat Linea had more than half of its sales figures wiped off clean.

The Verna is the new kid on the block and is basking in the joy of the honeymoon period. This will not last forever, but with 20k bookings, the Verna’s now the talk of the town and will continue to be so for a while.

Fiat India is quick to take notice of the situation and has launched marketing initiatives to increase footfalls at dealerships. By offering diesel cars for a petrol car’s cost and free fuel for buyers, Linea sales have to pickup this month and Fiat dealers will get busy.

But Fiat India will not go beyond marketing initiatives. This is what we heard today.

Fiat India’s Mumbai based spokesperson to Indian Autos Blog -

There’s no facelift for Linea or Punto this year. The lineup will be the same in 2011.

So it is official that there is no ‘Knight in the Shiny Armor’ that can save the Linea’s sales figures. As a product, it is a very potent competitor in the segment (especially the T-Jet which is my personal favorite) and by inviting customers into dealerships and providing them with an experience of the car, chances are many will fall in love with the Linea.

Is Fiat secretly planning to launch an assault in 2012 with a new Linea? What would you like to see change on the new car?

One of our favorite Fiats, the Grande Punto, has got an adorable face lift, an almost different front end and a few more changes on the rear (visible in the images). We have been having a watchful eye on the face lifted model for the last few months.

This model is not yet reached the production, it will come only after its debut at the Frankfurt show in September.

The hugely successful Grande Punto was launched almost four years go in 2005 in Europe and has proved to be one of the best in the segment. It was launched very recently in India with petrol and diesel engines.

The earlier design was also admired and appreciated a lot, so changing it would have been a bit of a challenge.

click through for more details

A couple of Brazillian Car blogs have pointed out, and have got information from sources they believe are trustworthy, that the new Fiat Grande Punto will borrow a great deal of design elements from its elder sibling- the Fiat Bravo. Shown here is a rendering of how the future Fiat Punto might look. Clearly, the changes are confined to the front grille and the front bumper.