While the full deregulation of diesel price is just a few months away, Fiat India that is strong in the diesel engine technology does not expect the development to adversely impact its performance in the country, according to a senior executive of Fiat Group Automobiles India Pvt Ltd.

He is also confident that even if the excise duty concession for the auto industry is not extended beyond December this year, the industry may not feel the pinch as the buyer sentiment has turned very favourable now compared to last year.

Punto Evo launch

Speaking to newsmen after unveiling Fiat India’s new premium hatchback Punto Evo at Coimbatore on Friday, Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, Head-Marketing and Communication, FGAIPL, Mumbai, said in the pre-high-end segment, the diesel-petrol cars ratio was 70:30.

In the high-end segment, the difference was less at 60:40 or equal at 50:50. There was also a rural bias in the preference for diesel cars as rural customers tend to drive for longer distances compared to their urban counterparts.

Replying to a question as to whether Fiat India would overcome the diesel shock when the diesel price is fully deregulated in the next two or three months (its Multijet diesel engines are hugely popular with other manufacturers as well), he said "we feel that we will not lose that advantage''.

He felt that the demand for diesel vehicles would continue and even at 50 per cent share for diesel vehicles, it was a "still a huge market to exploit''.

Petrol models

Gopalakrishnan said his company also has petrol models and Punto Evo comes with Fully Integrated Robotised Engine (F.I.R.E) petrol engine.

The car market was also expanding beyond the metros and cited the case of Coimbatore, which he said was among the "top ten markets in the country''. While the market share of petrol and diesel vehicles may change depending on local demand, he was confident of both models co-existing.

He did not expect any change in customer preference to affect Fiat India since it has flexible manufacturing capacity to produce both variants depending on demand.

He, however, refrained from putting any number on the Punto Evo his company hoped to sell during the year. With growing dealership network, he expected the company’s market share to grow.

Sports utility vehicles

On whether the company will target the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) segment which appeared to be growing, the Fiat India marketing head said that the company had earlier announced the launch of four new models during the current year and is sticking to that plan.

Already, it had launched the new Linea and has come out with Punto Evo now. Announcement about the other two models — Abarth and Avventura — would be made in the next sixty days. He said Fiat called Avventura a 'Contemporary Urban Vehicle (CUV)’ that was a small SUV type vehicle that Fiat India seeks to launch shortly.

Excise duty relief

Asked about the likely impact if the excise duty relief for automobiles is not extended beyond December 2014, Gopalakrishnan said that the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had taken up the cause for extending it beyond December. However, what was driving the market was not excise duty concession but the market sentiment.

He pointed out that even if the vehicle prices were to go up by Rs 20,000, the impact on EMIs would be a negligible Rs 300-Rs 400/month. But what has worked for the industry was the positive turn in buyer sentiments, which he expected to continue post-December.

He said Puto Evo would be available in Coimbatore in three petrol variants and four diesel variants. The ex-showroom price of petrol Punto Evo would range from Rs 4.68 lakh to Rs 6.81 lakh and the diesel vehicles would be priced between Rs 5.40 lakh and Rs 7.36 lakh.

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