Fiat to make India export hub for Jeep

Fiat India has already invested $280 million in its Ranjangaon plant, to scale-up for future models in India. This also includes a plan to manufacture their global brands in India and export them. Jeep will be the first brand in the portfolio to be locally manufactured and exported.

Fiat India CEO Kevin Flynn said in an interview with ET, “The Jeep is going to be a mega story . We are going to build a brand new jeep. We are going to export from here.” Lately a few other car manufacturers too have made India as their hub for global exports as that helps them benefit from economies of scale in the Indian operations, and also make use of the low-cost manufacturing capabilities of India.

Jeep is one of the most awaited automobile brands in India and will be launched in 2016 at the Auto Expo. The initial models sold under the Jeep brand will be CBU products – Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Wrangler. Fiat plans to introduce the made-in-India Jeep in 2017. This new Jeep (codenamed 551) will be based on the Fiat Toro pick-up truck platform, which is set to be launched in Brazil in 2016. This new Jeep is expected to be a volume generator for the Jeep brand in India as well as for exports to other markets. Later on, the Grand Cherokee and Wrangler also are planned to be localized.

Fiat is currently setting up exclusive dealerships for Jeep and also reworking its strategy with existing Fiat dealers to keep their profitability high. In view of ageing products, it is important to keep dealers profitable.

 “A happy dealer is a profitable dealer,” said Flynn, who has worked as a dealer and distributor in the past.

He also declared that he is prepared to ease the “cost burden” of dealers.

Fiat will be launching the Abarth Punto and Avventura today, in Delhi. These cars are targeted towards enthusiasts who demand more from their cars in terms of performance. The Abarth Punto and Avventura will be the most powerful cars in their segment and Fiat is expecting an increase footfalls into their dealerships with the new performance hatchback and crossover.