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Fiat India Planning To Export Punto, Linea
Fiat India MD Enrico Antasnio has indicated that the Indian made Fiat Linea and Punto can be exported to right hand drive markets such as UK, Japan, Africa and Australia. The Punto and Linea are recognized brands and it will not be difficult for Fiat to find a market for these two cars.
The Punto competes against the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Swift, Ford Figo, Tata Indica, Hyundai i20, Nissan Micra and Chevrolet Beat. The Linea on the other hand is pitted against entry level sedans such as the Swift DZire, Tata Indigo Manza, Nissan Sunny and Renault Scala.
Fiat's plans to export the Punto and Linea is logical. With its plant in Rajangaon near Pune having a production capacity of 1.35 lakh units and utilization just hovering around 50% Fiat India is bound to suffer losses. Other major carmakers in India also resort to the export route to make use of under utilized capacities.
Exports to other right hand drive markets is considered as an essential means of generating revenue by carmakers in India. With low profit margins triggered by customer preference of low priced cars, the only way of making a sizeable amount of money is through exports. In fact Hyundai exports more cars from India than the number of cars it manages to sell in India.
Fiat India's plans to export the Punto and Linea could also be the result of no new car being launched until late 2014. New cars can trigger a spurt in demand and Fiat cannot hope to improve sales with an ageing model line-up.
Fiat is developing new cars specifically for growing markets like India. Until these new cars are launched here, the Rajangaon plant will have to cater to both the domestic and export markets.
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