Fiat India will launch nine new models in the country in the next three years, a senior company official said on Tuesday.
The iconic SUV brand, Jeep, is expected to hit the Indian shores in 2013 and four models under the Jeep brand would be launched by 2016.
Besides, Fiat will also launch Abarth, and facelifts of Linea and Punto editions in 2013, Ravi Bhatia, Vice-President, Sales and Dealer Development, Fiat Group Automobiles India Pvt Ltd, said here after inaugurating an exclusive dealership in Ahmedabad.
Fiat India’s R&D team would contribute significantly to design and develop Chrysler’s smallest Jeep, Jeepster, to be launched globally in mid-2014.
The company will launch a B-segment SUV in India in 2015 after research and development from the Chrysler plant in Chennai.
The product will be manufactured at the Ranjangaon (Pune) plant. This facility would be developed as a global hub to build and export cars to the UK, Japan and Australia.
The move will give Fiat economies of scale at a time of flagging domestic volumes since the utilisation level of this plant, having an annual capacity of 1.35 lakh cars, is around 50 per cent.
Market study
Bhatia said Fiat is also in the process of doing a market study to launch the Fiat Professional brand of utility/passenger vans and small pick-up trucks.
The company also plans to appoint over 120 independent dealers across India by March 2014, he said.
Fiat, which is joining hands with the Tatas for vehicle finance provision, plans to double its market share to 1 per cent by next year and 5 per cent by 2015.