According to a media report, Fiat Chrysler will pull the plug on the Fiat brand in India and will focus entirely on the Jeep brand. Fiat currently sells the Punto, Linea, Avventura, Urban Cross and the performance versions of the Punto and Avventura.
At the 2017 Geneva motor show, the late Sergio Marchionne, in his forthright fashion, told Autocar India: “Fiat has had many chances in India and now it’s Jeep’s turn.”
The company has had a poor showing in terms of sales numbers for a while.
For instance, in December 2018, Fiat India sold a total of 75 cars (Punto Evo, Avventura and Linea combined), while market-leader Maruti Suzuki sold 1,19,804 cars the same month, according to SIAM data.
Fiat-Chrysler launched the all-new Jeep brand in the Indian market in 2016 with the CBU models like the Wrangler and Cherokee in India. In 2017, the all-new Jeep Compass was launched, which became instantly famous in the Indian market.
A spokesperson from Fiat confirmed that Fiat will continue to sell model-year 2019 Punto and Linea cars for now. However, post-April 2019, it will need to upgrade these models to meet the new crash-test norms and emissions norms. That may simply not be possible.
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