Exclusive: Fiat India's plans for 2015 along with timelines
The journey of Fiat in India so far has not been as good as the company would have liked. The Italian manufacturer is now trying hard to play catch up. After launching a refreshed 2014 Linea and the Punto Evo the company also introduced its crossover cousin, the Avventura. The company also claims to have looked into it's after sales service issues and come July 2015, Fiat India plans to go all guns blazing.
As per our sources, Fiat will begin by launching the 595 Competizione Abarth in July this year. The car features a 1.4-litre T-Jet unit with a fixed geometry turbo that produces a healthy 160PS at 5,500rpm and 230Nm of torque at 3,000rpm in Sport mode. In our review, we found the AMT transmission on the car to be a bit of slow shifting. At the time of launch, we hope that Fiat offers an optional manual transmission as well.
Next in line is the Punto T-Jet that will be launched by August or September . Hot hatch lovers rejoice! The new T-Jet will, reportedly, produce 135PS. To put things into perspective, the Polo GT TSI produces 105PS. The Fiat Punto T-jet was snapped recently and the pre-production car does not look any different than the Punto Evo Emotion spec, save for the alloys. We hope that Fiat tweaks the looks to match the potential go. An aero kit, racing stripes or the likes would certainly help draw the enthusiast. The current 1.2-litre FIRE engine in the Punto does make the car feel underpowered and the T-Jet engine should do justice to the ride and handling prowess of the hatchback.
The other big launch would be the much delayed launch of the Jeep brand in India by the festive season in October. Fiat was going to launch the brand last year but decided to put it off since it felt that market conditions were unfavourable at that time. Our road test of the almost five metre long Grand Cherokee received a lot of inquisitive attention that simply testified our nation's love for SUVs. The Jeep Grand Cherokee's 3.0-litre V6 diesel produces 240PS and 580Nm. Fiat may also look to introduce the Jeep Renegade to cater to the compact SUV buyer.
Watch this space for more on Fiat's upcoming products
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