Fiat 500 launch in India in July 2008
Two-door Fiat 500 to debut this month
The much hyped two-door lifestyle model from Fiat, the Fiat 500, will soon be on Indian roads. The car, is to be launched in India in July in line with the Italian car maker’s aggressive push at making India a potential market.
The Fiat 500 small car will be imported to India as a completely built unit, as an image building exercise for the car maker in the country. The Fiat 500 as a mass market product in India, considering that it will cost more than much larger cars in India, like the Skoda Octavia or Honda Civic. The Fiat 500 will be a flagship model for the company - Fiat’s image has not really recovered in India after their initial hiccups in the late 1990s. Their alliance with Tata Motors in India has taken care of the negativity somewhat, but customers are still nervous about going in for a Fiat. A high end, iconic model (for India) like the Fiat 500 should go some way in restroing Fiat’s credibility in India.
Expected to sport a price tag of Rs 15 lakh, the Fiat 500 is likely to find its clientele among the celebrities, youth and auto enthusiasts.
The Fiat 500 has three four-cylinder engines - a 1400 cc 100 bhp petrol, a 1200cc 69 bhp petrol, and a 1248cc, 75 bhp multijet diesel engine already in India on the diesel Suzuki Swift. The car is 3.55 metres in length, but features 7 airbags including a knee-airbag and comes with a five star rating in EuroNCAP tests.
Besides the Fiat 500, the company has also lined up a few other models that would follow. The launch of Fiat 500 is being positioned in such a way that it would herald the arrival of the other new models such as Bravo and most importantly the Linea.
The Fiat Linea is a mid-size sedan Linea which would debut in September 2008. The Linea is expected to come up with 70 per cent local content, and company sources said that Fiat’s successful 1.3 multi-jet engines with 95 bhp will be used in Linea. Yet another model Grande Punto will follow he Linea and would get set for a December launch. The Fiat Bravo too is expected soon in India.
Fiat’s largest selling model in India currently is the Palio which is available in seven versions. According to the company, Palio sells around 600 units a month. This, significantly, means is that the company sells all that it makes.
ashok said on Monday, July 21, 2008, 6:30
good car need to see before buying it
sahil said on Monday, July 21, 2008, 16:59
an awesome car… excellent interioirs.
i dont need to say all this.. cause after all its from the fiat stable ..
expensive though..
fiat has taken up the market skimming strategy it seems ..
Ashwin Kumar said on Friday, August 1, 2008, 6:37
Simply Awesome…good move by FIAT to launch it in INDIA!!
abhishek vashistha said on Saturday, August 2, 2008, 6:51
too costly for general INDIANS
Potluri said on Monday, August 4, 2008, 5:17
Pl forward all the details about Fiat500
with Regards
amar
Kanak said on Monday, August 4, 2008, 13:40
THis car is too expensive for Indian market. Many Indians would go for a salon…rather than buying this car…..
Mandeep Singh said on Tuesday, August 5, 2008, 14:22
its a very good liking car I want to know the the price of fiat 500 in India .
Mandeep
MADANN said on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 1:06
This car is not for general Indians. Nor is it for Indian Generals. It is for the spoilt brats of de-novo rich Indians who have got easy or illegal gotton money. Or by the wars of Company owners, who though, they claim the Comapny is owned by the shareholdrs, in reality own the Company due to majority holding.
Certainly not for those who have made the money by their hard work, howsoever rich they may have become.
MADANN said on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 1:08
In my previous reply for ‘wars’ read wards.
rahul kate said on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 4:50
good car
vinod said on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 8:52
fiat though very good, but for india they dont have good marketing strategy.they required to do lot about their after sale service,spare parts are not available so very difficult and costly to maintain,
I suggest fiat marketing people that indian are not foolish to spend this huge amount for this small car 1248cc which has no proper after sale service. first they should improve this (service/maintenance) part. then only they should sell their product. they need to take lesson from maruti and hundai.
Vinod Gupta said on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 9:03
Dear Sir,
Fiat 500 is very heavly priced, Fools will buy Fiat 500 for Rs 15,00000/- In this price range good quality cars are avaliable of companies who have very good reputations then Fiat. This car should not be priced more then Rs,300000/- Fiat people think that Indians are the biggest fools in the world, while it is other way around
Vinod Gupta
Sandra Colaco said on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 11:51
Good car, i want one… will someone buy it for me? too expensive for me
akshat kapoor said on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, 16:20
i dont care about others ….
but i am in …
i am gettin dis car as soon as it hits the road ….
akshat kapoor
9888508000
navnath, pune said on Thursday, August 7, 2008, 4:23
ok!! but car saleable in India? indian market want car but…….
sam said on Thursday, August 7, 2008, 5:59
I agree with all those who are saying that it will be to costly for the Indian market. I have a S10. Total value for every penny and more, but this is a totaly in a different league.
pradeep said on Thursday, August 7, 2008, 10:43
they are really fools because they dont have proper service and the spare parts in the mane locations and the only they have is they r marketed by tata may be it also not saficient.the main thing is it toooooooo cost.
DILIP PENDHARKAR.PUNE said on Thursday, August 7, 2008, 13:47
I was desperately waiting for the launch of
FIAT-500. But after knowing the price, I think, I’ll be
able to buy only a ’scale model’ of the car. And I am
sure many will think my way. May God bless the company!
mahesh said on Thursday, August 7, 2008, 19:23
hello vinod gupta…
u own the company or u work for the company?? that is their company..let them decide…dont give advice..then why porsche bring their expensive model to india..n few people buying it!!
make up ur mind dude!!
mahesh said on Thursday, August 7, 2008, 19:24
yes a good car!!
hope to see it on roads!
sheridan said on Thursday, August 7, 2008, 19:26
wow..great car!!
i have a palio 1.6 gtx …n serviced it every 15000 kms…have been running it since 5 years now n absolutely no prob!! even after sales service…they doin very good job!! improving a lot as well!!
manish said on Friday, August 8, 2008, 9:06
great………..looking
but much expensive for me…….
Shiju said on Friday, August 8, 2008, 16:32
hey sheridan
what about their after sales service ? and spare parts, are they available easily??is it costly to maintain???????
Nilesh Purey,Ahmedabad said on Friday, August 8, 2008, 17:02
I was deparely waiting for something new from Fiat since last one year as this has been very long Fiat has laucnhed any thing exciting liek this .
But I think this car can be very well sold in countirs where Fiat has a cult kind of reputation but very difficult in cost contious Indian market .
Would like to add that Fiat must think of launching something which is well within reach of Indians say 4-6 lacs range that too after improving the pre launch advertising ( See how badly the new Palio was advertised , Fiat was not at all able to exploit the possibilites of such a good car with powerful cost efficient engine ) .
Vijay said on Saturday, August 9, 2008, 6:09
Awesome car………
i wanna know the price of the car
simply its the best…………
Puja said on Saturday, August 9, 2008, 13:38
I love it….though m decidin between a porsche cayenne n ths one……
amin nagpure said on Sunday, August 10, 2008, 8:29
Car is good, but it is very very expensive, expensive than the big size luxury cars..
the cost is over priced, it has a engine similar to swift which comes for Rs4 lac , and the same engine for fiat 500 comes for Rs 15 lacs..
how come they price it so high.. car looks stunning, but i hope it has enough space to be a 4 seater..
car looks great! but the price is too much, not a good deal if you use your brains
shavak said on Sunday, August 10, 2008, 13:42
ya itzz realy .. gud n spotry in look……
but dude 15 laks 4 a small car in india naaaa…
UTPAL RAJSAIKIA, GUWAHATI said on Sunday, August 10, 2008, 16:12
‘A CLASS IN ITSELF FOR A CLASS OF ITSELF’ BUT TOO COSTLY. MAYBE DUE TO INFLATIONARY PRESSURE.
Shahid said on Sunday, August 10, 2008, 16:40
I wud rather say the worsest car launch in India it can never succeed
first fiat as a brand name is vry poor in india
next the price tag
who wud pay some 15 lakhs for this shit
one shud prefer buying the civic,corolla, laura, octavia,
or else u hav lot of money then wait for the Volkswagen Beetle
well this is wat i Think
Vinod Gupta said on Monday, August 11, 2008, 10:49
Mr Mahesh,
It is true that i do not own Fiat Company, and neither i work with Fiat, each and every person can express her/her views as no mail was personally addressed to you,i am unable to under stand as to why you are panicking and what problem you are facing that you went on writing the bull shit. I through an open challenge to you that you also will not purchase or cannot afford to purchase this car.
Vinod Gupta
Naveen.Michael said on Monday, August 11, 2008, 16:19
I disagree with the Fiat companies comments. This cannot fall under small car bracket.. The price of this car is too much. I would rather buy a SUV than buying this tiny car and there are no specifications given about this car. Tata Nano, VW Beetle and some of the mini class cars come under this.
Naveen.Michael said on Monday, August 11, 2008, 16:20
If this car was built ONLY for Celebrities then why was this displayed or offered for common man…?
Satyaprasad Ravuri said on Tuesday, August 12, 2008, 8:58
Hi This car is really very good looking but price 15,00,000 is very high for this car.
gaurav said on Tuesday, August 12, 2008, 16:25
every one in india knows that fiat is not doing well in india but it isint clear that why fiat was ot doing well, now after fiat 500 is launched even those who didnt know why fiat was not doing well will come to know the reason,, all the best for new disaster,
just ask your marketing manager why has he chosen india as a new market for your disaster, might be his salary dues were over pending.
pay it to avoid a new catastrophe
rohan singhal said on Wednesday, August 13, 2008, 9:58
rocking car, but i would like to go with swift ,maximum with skoda fabia in dis segment ..but 15 lacs for this is just like da most foolish thing ..here price matters a lot.
Mohnish said on Thursday, August 14, 2008, 6:11
When i saw the promo of the car i tht that the car would not be more than 2.5 lakhs.
What a high price for such a very small car?
The car first of all lacks good designs, After all the depressed image of Fiat in India.
This entry would surely make FIAT more weak competitor in india
aNKIt said on Friday, August 15, 2008, 5:23
mind bloooowing,awesome man but as m d student of dip so when i’ll b gettng d job i’ll b surly buyng it fantastic job by fiat hats off
Snehal said on Friday, August 22, 2008, 14:28
Awesome car.. no words…
bt itz tooooo expensive..
even for people who can afford thiz car, will find it too xpensive.
it seemz that it will certainly fail in indian market..
15 lakhs iz too much…
wen i saw the ad on air, my expectation of price wz around 5 to 6 lacs max.
will surely go for other cars..
abhinav said on Monday, August 25, 2008, 8:44
great car…but the pricing ia way too cranky…fiat has dug its grave in india..it should be in competetion to the fabia , swift etc..only fools with money to throw will go for it
Ankit Shrivastava said on Monday, September 1, 2008, 21:37
Its a Lovely little Baby FIAT….FIAT500
I agree with all u, who have posted their valuable comments on this portal……But instead of criticizing this effort of FIAT we should rather appriciate it, coz they are the ones who actually gave us car like “Premier Padmani”, and they are the ones who has given our precious mankind the mean machines like F1 racing carz n the Ferrari range, rather they are the MAKERS OF FERRARI……..the machine that Michael Schummi has driven n got his victory punched again n again in the F1 History!!!!
We shud understand that F-500 is so heavyly priced coz its the original car or model which is being sold in ITALY, entire Europe n even other parts of the Globe…….Originally this car has a price tag of 5-7lacs according to Indian currency in Europe…….its the Indian Central Customes & Excise laws that says for a car to be imported 300% of deuty has to be paid therefore a car that has a price tag of 5lacs in Italy will be sold for 15 lacs in India………
I read people saying that when it has an engine similar to our Indian diesel Swift which is for 4-5 lac, y shud 1 pay 15 lac for this…….The answer to this is that its the engine technology that is same like we have many engine technologies eg SOCH, DOCH, DICOR, CRDI, TDi, ROCAM etc etc……. what happens here is, u can get the engine technology copywrited but when u get the same technology made by either Britz or Germans and then get it imported to India its 3 times the original cost, due to which these manufacturers are getting tie-ups wid indian part makers like Lumax etc, so that the car can get cheaper n cheaper
But we shud nt forget that, the cheaper the car becomes the poorer its performance is!!!!!!!!!
Rather we shud b happy that these BIG BRANDS r accepting the fact that we have the buying capacity as well!!!!!!
neways all u gentelmen r very correct on your respective parts n everyone has rite to express here…..hence I encashed mine!!!!
Mahesh said on Thursday, September 4, 2008, 12:52
Ahem…ahem.
Ask and you shall receive. If you ask God for this car, from the bottom of your heart and believe that you WILL get it, you will! God will decide how to source it.
But the problem is that our conscious mind or brain will just not let us believe that such a thing is possible.
So only those who BELIEVE will be able to own the car, no matter what their financial condition now.
It’s our belief in the theory of scarcity (upon which economics is based) that makes most people poor or mediocre, and scared and worried. There is a way out.
Anybody interested in learning the art of getting rich with the help of subconscious mind may write to me at mkumar61@rediffmail.com
Regards
vipin said on Friday, September 5, 2008, 11:00
No doubt FIAT’s technology is the best, but the marketing strategy is very poor. FIAT should learn this from Maruti. Fiat’s stile is the best, price-wise, performance-wise and stafety-wise compare to all other cars, but it is lagging behind due to its marketing strategy. FIAT needs some celebrities to familiaries their cars among masses. Once again I would say its technology is the best. One shuld opt for FIAT cars.
dilliwala said on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, 12:46
Oh please.. Give me a break, the last thing we want is to know that the price of each car has been raised due to the fact that FIAT paid 8 crores to the celebrities “to familiaries their cars among masses”(Bacchan family.. anyone??)
Vinod Gupta said on Friday, September 19, 2008, 11:14
Dear Sir,
I I have read all the comments of people , like “Very Good Car”, “Rocking” “Des[prately waiting For the Lanch, and will buy one as soon as avaliable” Comments sounds very good, I am sorry to say that i live in the Capital of India and that too at the most posh area IE South Extension, While going to my work Place i pass through GK II, where almost you will find all the bid brands of cars, Parked in the houses, or parked by the road side, or running on the road.
I feel sorry to say i found Fiat 500 neither parked in side any house or out side the house or else running on the roads. I wonder as to why people do not agree that Rs.15 lacks for this car are to much, or they just live in the fools paradise and give un necessary comments.
dr.sijo varghese said on Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 7:28
Beautiful buggy car.i want to see the interiors. I think ,if u can fix the rate below 9 lakhs,selling rate will be more.
bnd said on Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 17:14
I think amongst small cars in near future Renault Yeni will rule the market.
KIRAN said on Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 11:49
Keep the design as it is and make the changes in cost that suits indian people.
I need this car for 1 lakh rupees only inluding all taxes. more cheaper more buyers else it will be loss for company only.
Sandesh Vijay said on Thursday, October 16, 2008, 9:45
15 lakhs ????? whoooooooooooooooooosh ……
Thats a price for a 2 BR flat ….
This is gonna be Fiat’s greatest flop launch in India …
No wonder I havent seen even one of it in Bangalore..
Abhishek said on Friday, October 17, 2008, 20:32
Well no doubt it is really a good car with a small 1.4 liter but highly powerful and technologically advanced engine. I hope FIAT would not expect lakhs of unit to be sold in India. Its targeted towards those people who understands technology, appreciates innovation and finally has Rs. 1500000 to spare (Mind this word :)) As far as my view is concerned FIAT 500 can be a rich guy’s 7th or 8th car for adding to the collection he has made. i am sure Fiat will not be able to sell even what Merch S class is selling in India. Indian mentality doesn’t allow a person to put 15lakhs for getting a 1.4 liter box not even enough to accommodate 4 persons comfortably. Technology and other things comes later. Well all the best to Fiat if it is expecting to do wonders with such a car in Indian roads. Beside this FIAT has to travel miles to provide proper after sales services to FIAT buyers in India
sooraj said on Tuesday, October 21, 2008, 12:51
15 lkhs for such a small car like this forget it..i will get a civic bigger better just a litlle more money