The Hindu : Fiat to stay in India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 04, 2003

Business

Business

Fiat to stay in India

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 3. Fiat India today announced that work continues as usual as its Kurla plant and it proposes to launch a new petrol variant of the Palio model shortly. Seeking to dismiss speculation that the Indian subsidiary is being closed down as part of the parent company's restructuring plans, Fiat India's Chairman and Managing Director, Alberto Montanari, said, "Fiat Italy is continuing to provide us with the necessary support.''

The auto company's CEO, who recently returned from Italy after the group's global restructuring plans were announced, said Fiat had a long history with the Indian consumer. The parent company had already decided to restructure its capital thereby nullifying the effect of accumulated losses in India.

In a statement issued here today, he said the immediate focus would be on instilling confidence in dealers, vendors and customers. "Our future product launch is rolling out as scheduled and we will simultaneously focus on rationalising operations for better efficiencies,'' he said.

On the company's financial performance, he said since the launch of the Palio in September 2001, the fiscal position of Fiat India, has improved and losses for 2002 were 65 per cent less than in the previous year. This was a clear indication of the company's performance moving in the right direction and with the recently launched Palio diesel being well accepted by the Indian market, he said the effort is continuing.

He said the company's Indian plant played an integral role in terms of supplying components to other Fiat facilities worldwide. Fiat India exported components to Italy, Morocco, South Africa and Poland. The company's plans for export of cars manufactured in India is guided by the principle of identifying right drive markets where Fiat does not already have an industrial presence and hence the focus on neighbouring Southeast Asian markets.

Sales for June were 1,131 units as against 1,204 in the previous month. Of these, the Palio accounted for 1,037 units.

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