Fiat has big plans for India

Fiat, the Italian car giant is looking at extending presence in India with more tie ups in the country.

The company, which is looking for a two-figure share of the market in India, is said to be zeroing in on two or three operational partners like Tata with which it already has a tie-up.

Fiat Palio

With its joint venture with Tata Motors up and running for quite a while now, the Italian auto major is now looking at partnering the Tatas for the recently acquired Jaguar and Land Rover brands to supply engines. The company is said to have expressed keenness to supply engines for Jaguar and Land Rover. A proposal in this regard has been made to Tata Motors b the company.

Fiat top officials have said that Jaguar and Land Rover would get engine support from Ford if the proposal works out. Saying that the Tatas had a commitment to get support mechanism out of Ford to do transition on engines, the officials said that Fiat has the know how to provide the Tatas with a good package.

Tata and Fiat already have together pumped in close to Rs 4,000 crore at the Ranjangaon plant in Maharashtra for a new car and engine plant. Tata is sourcing engines for its new cars from this plant and the engines are made from Fiat’s latest technology. These include Fiat’s famed 1.3-liter multijet diesel engine.

Meanwhile, Fiat is also looking at building a low-cost car in the market soon. However, it has reiterated that the low cost brand would not be as low priced as Tata Nano. The car might be taken to the developed markets, it is believed.

It isn’t just India that is on Fiat’s future association plans. The company is in talks with Chinese companies about possible partnerships. News sources said that Fiat is in discussions with a certain number of potential partners in China. The company believes that strengthening of its foothold in the Chinese region might help it revive sales. The company had been dealt a body blow recently with markets in Europe having been pulled down following a downtrend.

Sources have hinted that the Italian company is in talks with the Guangzhou Automobile Industry Group in China, where it already has ties with Chery Automobiles. Besides, Fiat’s truck subsidiary Iveco has a partnership with SAIC Motor and Chongqing Heavy Vehicle Group of China.