Fiat working on affordable range of products

Fiat is focussing its energy back to what is does best – build affordable cars. While it gets ready to launch the Tipo sedan in Europe, which made its debut recently in Turkey as the Fiat Egea, it is believed that Fiat will take the same approach as Dacia (Renault), in Europe, that is to cater to the price-conscious buyers.

The Fiat Tipo sedan will battle it out in the affordable compact segment of Europe, where Dacia is not present, currently.

Dacia’s Logan sedan and Sandero hatchback are both sub-compact cars.

The Tipo will be marketed as an affordable and frugal proposition. According to Fiat Chrysler’s chief operating officer for Europe, Alfredo Altavilla, the Fiat Tipo will have no direct rival.

“It will be a test for the market because the affordable compact segment in Europe basically does not exist,” he told Automotive News Europe. According to Altavilla, the car has been received with enthusiasm. “We showed it to Italian dealers, it went pretty well,” the executive said.

Turkey will be the first market, where this sedan will be sold, under the name Egea. December onwards, the sedan will go on sale as the Tipo in Italy and later in 40 other countries in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The Tipo sedan will be followed by hatchback and station wagon variants next year and will be unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show in March 2016.

While the Tipo sedan will replace the Linea and will target mostly markets in eastern Europe and Turkey, the hatchback will act as a successor to the Fiat Bravo and will mainly be sold in western Europe. The estate version will be replacing the Stilo Multiwagon .

While chances of the Tipo/Egea coming to India remain high, there is still no confirmation by Fiat India on the same. The engineering team at Fiat is exploring various options that could be viable for this country. Fiat will ensure that whatever product they get into the country will have a high level of localisation in order to be extremely competitive.

Fiat also is working on an all -new SUV under the Jeep brand, which will be manufactured in India and is likely to come in 2017.