Grande Punto Sport rollout by end June 2010
Fiat India, which is expecting a double digit growth during this calendar year, is gearing up to launch the Grande Punto Sport by the end of this June. It is to be mentioned that the Punto Sport, which was displayed at the Auto Expo’10, is a 1.3-litre 90bhp multijet diesel engine which powers the Fiat Linea as well. To make it more appealing to the Indian youth, the car will also sport a funky electric sunroof, sporty upholstery, a rear spoiler, sport red decals, blacked-out headlamps, bigger tyres and dual colour interior leather seats. With these exciting add-ons, the user is sure to feel exhilarated and ready to take on the world, as claimed by the company. The car is estimated to be retailed at around Rs. 7 lakh and will co-exist with the existing range of Grande Punto models.
The Linea T-Jet, which was again showcased at the Auto Expo’10, might be launched in September this year. The new variant of Linea will sport the 110bhp 1.4-litre petrol engine. It is widely believed that the Linea T-Jet comes with the turbocharged version of the naturally aspirated 1.4 petrol and develop a healthy 120ps@5000 rpm and more impressive 206NM of torque right from 1750rpm onwards. It is to be mentioned that currently Linea is available in a 1.3 litre diesel and a 1.4 litre petrol versions. Furthermore, the Linea will go through a lot of changes as and the company is also planning to re-create a new Linea on the same platform.
The official spokesperson of the company, when contacted, confirmed the story and said, “Yes, we are gearing up to launch the Grande Punto Sport by June-end and 1.4 T-jet Linea by the end of this year. The move has been necessitated because while unveiling these models at the Auto Expo, visitors gave a thumping response to the model. Furthermore, there are a lot of requests at our dealer’s end.” He added, “We are working and expect to roll out Punto's CNG variant by the end of this fiscal year."
Separately, Live Mint has reported that the Fiat India’s parent company is eyeing to source €250 million (Rs. 1,415 crore) worth of components by 2011, part of a plan to buy components worth €8.5 billion from best-cost countries. It may be recalled that a senior representative of Fiat S.p.A. which had up set up its purchase office in May 2008, had earlier told reporters that it has earmarked India as a base for supplying components for its European operations. It has now been learnt that about 70 per cent of the outsourced parts will be solely for the Fiat Group’s multiple operations in India. However, the amount indicated for next year does not include auto parts for the Chrysler brand, which Fiat took over this year. It is to be mentioned that in India, the Fiat Group sources components for its passenger cars, farm equipment, construction equipment and truck businesses.
“There is a management commitment to increase (buying of parts from India) in 2011-14 once the next plan is approved,” said Niraj Hans, who heads Fiat’s purchasing office in the country, was quoted as saying to ‘Live Mint’. He added, “If the slowdown had not happened, we may have revised it upwards.”
The business daily claims that even though the Italian automaker had procured only €100 million of supplies from India owing to the recessionary trends last year, it is gearing up to reach the €250 million mark.