Wait another day for Fiat's Grande Punto

Fiat to enter crowded small car segment in India with the hope that its price will give it an edge. But Bangaloreans will have to be patient if they want to check it out

Bangaloreans are disappointed. They have to wait another day, till tomorrow, to get a glimpse of the car and a few more days to test-drive it.

A week after Honda launched Jazz, its first small car in India, Fiat will launch Grande Punto, its first car in the B+ segment, across the country tomorrow.

The car, a hatchback in both petrol and diesel variants, is a joint venture of Fiat and Tata Motors and has premium features like ABS (anti-lock braking system) and EBD (Electronic Brake Distribution).

While the petrol variant is equipped with 1.2L and 1.4L engines that pump 65 and 77 horses respectively, the diesel variant has a 1.3L multijet diesel engine.

The race

The small car segment which contributes to over 70 per cent of the Indian market is seeing more carmakers entering the arena to beat the global slump.

While global carmakers including Honda, Hyundai and Skoda already have Jazz, i20 and Fabia respectively in the market, Grande Punto is Fiat's first small car in India.

"The car will fill the gap left by Linea after it established itself in the C+ segment. Our pricing is aggressive as we have strong competitors in the market. The price factor will help us score," said Anil G B, deputy manager (sales), Prerana Motors.

Price factor

Sources said the car would be priced between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 7 lakh, lesser than the recently-launched Honda Jazz, which costsu00a0 Rs 7.15 lakh in Bangalore.

Experts feel the car will offer competition in the segment only if Fiat addresses issues like availability of spares and inadequate service.

"The car is promising too as it's a Tata-Fiat joint venture. But non-availability of spares in time and insufficient service network may hamper their sales," said M R Indresh, an automobile expert. But other car dealers don't feel threatened by the Grande Punto.

"Every company is coming with better products these days. That can't be a threat to a proven brand like Honda Jazz. That doesn't mean we underestimate them. We will wait and watch as to how it performs in the market," said Ramdas M, manager, Whitefield Honda.

Will it be all about the prices?
Skoda Fabia - Rs 5.58 - 7.86 lakh
Hyundai i20 - Rs 5.57 -u00a0 6.64 lakh
Fiat Grande Punto - Rs 5 - 7 lakh (expected)
Maruti Ritz - Rs 3.88 - 4.93 lakh
Honda Jazz - Rs 6.98 - 7.33 lakhu00a0