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FCA India Automobiles

FCA India Automobiles
Private Limited
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryAutomotive
Founded2 January 1997; 27 years ago (1997-01-02)
HeadquartersPune, Maharashtra, India
Key people
Partha Datta, president & managing director
Products
ParentStellantis
Websitefiat-india.com

FCA India Automobiles Private Limited (FCAIPL), formerly known as "Fiat Group Automobiles India Private Limited", is the Indian subsidiary of Stellantis, formed in 1997. The company was established for the production of cars and engines under the brand Fiat, Abarth, and Jeep. It is the ninth largest Indian car manufacturer by sales in India.

History

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Fiat brand in India was earlier represented through a joint venture company called Fiat India Automobiles Pvt Ltd., FIAPL (Name changed to Fiat India Automobiles Ltd., FIAL later) founded in the year 1997 with Fiat S.p.A. and Tata Motors as the two partners coming together to produce cars for both brands in a plant set up through joint investments at Ranjangaon, in Pune district of Maharashtra.[1] The board of directors for this company comprises five nominees each from Fiat and Tata.[2] Another key interest area for the Tata-Fiat JV is the production of the 1.3 Multijet engine and corresponding powertrains common to a number of both the Tata & Fiat brand cars in India like Fiat Palio, Fiat Grande Punto, Fiat Linea, Fiat Aventura, Fiat Urban Cross, Tata Vista and Tata Manza.[3][4]

Even today the Tata Fiat JV plant operates under the FIAL name, as an independent entity and it produces Fiat & Tata brand cars for FCAIPL (Fiat India NSC) & Tata Motors respectively. The company presently employs about 2600 employees. It also undertakes contract manufacturing of engines for Maruti Suzuki India Ltd & Premier Automobiles. Premier Automobiles uses this engine for their compact SUV Premier Rio and the Suzuki cars that used Fiat 1.3 Multijet engines in Indian market include – Ritz, Swift, Swift DZire, SX4 & Ciaz, S-Cross, Vitara Brezza, Baleno.

Prior to this, Fiat used to sell the 1100, 124 and Uno in India, manufactured under licence by Premier Automobiles Limited.

In 2015 FCA officially launches the Maserati brand in India absent since 2013. The relaunch is managed directly by the FCA India division through the opening of three dealerships in the Indian territory and the launch of the Maserati Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans imported directly in from Grugliasco (Turin). The initial plan envisages sales of 100 units per year with the progressive expansion of the sales network.[5] From 2016 the import of the Maserati Levante SUV and the Maserati GranTurismo coupè starts.

In February 2016, the entry of the Jeep brand in the Indian market was announced. Mike Manley, then director of the Jeep brand and the APAC region of the FCA Group, announced that the first models to be imported from the United States are the Jeep Wrangler (JK), the Grand Cherokee and the sports version Grand Cherokee SRT, opening the first show rooms in the main Indian cities and addressing models to a target of luxury customers. In addition, the expansion of the Jeep brand involved the investment of 280 million US dollars for the production of the new model Jeep Compass with right-hand drive in the Pune plant from mid-2017. The Indian plant will produce all the Compass with right hand drive to be exported globally to Australia, New Zealand, UK, Japan, Brunei and South Africa.[6]

The 1 June 2017 the first locally produced Jeep Compass officially rolled off the assembly line at the company's Ranjangaon plant.[7]

In 2017, Fiat signed a contract for the production and supply to Tata Motors starting from the end of 2018 of the 2.0 liter Multijet II turbo diesel engines.[8] The 2.0-liter Multijet II engine in the same year went into production at the Indian Ranjangaon plant to be adopted by the Jeep Compass also produced locally. The supply to Tata Motors concerns about 70,000 per year to be fitted to the Tata Harrier SUV that went into production at the end of 2018.[9]

In November 2018 the production of the Fiat Punto models (including the Abarth version), Avventura and Linea ended due to low sales; consequently the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group withdraws the Fiat brand from the Indian market, focusing on the development of the Jeep brand that produces the right-hand-drive Jeep Compass exported globally and imports the Grand Cherokee and Wrangler models from the US.[10]

Manufacturing facilities

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Fiat has a manufacturing plant at Ranjangaon, Maharashtra, which has an installed capacity to produce 355,000 cars and engines, besides aggregates and components. The company plans to double the production capacity for both car units and engines in the next few years. The car plant manufactures both Fiat and Tata cars, the latest additions in 2014 are the Fiat Linea facelift, Fiat Punto Evo, Tata Zest and Fiat Avventura. Engine manufacturing at Ranjangaon plant was the 1.2 litre Fire petrol, the 1.4 litre Fire naturally aspired and T-Jet turbocharged version and the small 1.3 litre Multijet diesel.

In April 2020 the Fiat India Ranjangaon plant has rolled out the 5,00,000th car.[11]

In 2017 FCA planned to start production of the right hand drive version of the new Jeep Compass launched on 31 July 2017 starting at 15 Lakhs.[12]

Models

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Current models

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Jeep

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Model Introduction Facelift
SUV/crossover
Compass 2017 2021
Meridian 2022 2024
Wrangler (JL) 2020 2024
Grand Cherokee (WL) 2022

Maserati

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Model Introduction Facelift Notes
Sedan
Ghibli 2015 2021 Imported from Italy
Quattroporte 2015 2021 Imported from Italy
SUV/crossover
Levante 2016 Imported from Italy
Sports car
MC20 2022 Imported from Italy

Discontinued models

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Fiat

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Model Released Discontinued Image Notes
Uno 1997 2002
Siena 1999 2004
Palio 2001 2010
Palio Adventure 2002 2007
Palio Weekend 2002 2005
Petra 2004 2008
500 2008 2010 Imported from Poland
Grande Punto 2008 2014
Linea 2009 2018
Bravo 2010 2011 Imported from Italy
Punto Evo 2014 2018
Avventura 2014 2018

Abarth

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Model Released Discontinued Image Notes
595 Competizione 2014 2017 Imported from Poland

Jeep

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Model Released Discontinued Image Notes
Wrangler (JK) 2016 2020 Imported from US
Grand Cherokee (WK2) 2016 2020 Imported from US

Maserati

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Model Released Discontinued Image Notes
GranTurismo (M145) 2016 2019 Imported from Italy

Sales performance

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FIAT sold 24000 vehicles in 2009[13] and registered an increase of 241% compared to the previous year sales which stood at 6,897 vehicles. It planned to sell 130,000 cars annually in India by 2014.[14][15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Fiat Auto and Tata Motors announce forming a joint venture in India". Tata Motors. 14 December 2006. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Fiat India". Fiat India. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  3. ^ "Maruti to source 1.6 litre diesel Fiat engine for S-Cross; developing own 1.5 litre engine". The Economic Times. 10 June 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  4. ^ Mohile, Shally Seth (17 May 2012). "Fiat to power Premier's Rio". Live Mint. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Italian luxury car manufacturer Maserati re-enters India". Maserati. 15 July 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Legendary Jeep® Brand Enters One of the World's Largest Automobile Markets" (PDF). Jeep. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  7. ^ "First Jeep® Compass Rolls Off Assembly Line in Ranjangaon, India". FCA Press. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
  8. ^ "Fiat India To Also Supply Bigger Diesel Engines To Tata Motors And Maruti Suzuki". carandbike.com. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  9. ^ "Tata Harrier to be powered by the all-new 2.0L Kryotec Diesel engine". Tata Motors. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Fiat Punto, Linea to be discontinued from India – Production stopped". rushlane.com. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 14 January 2014.
  11. ^ "Fiat India Ranjangaon plant reaches milestone in car production". The Economic Times. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  12. ^ Thakkar, Ketan (31 July 2017). "Jeep Compass SUV launched in India at 14.95 lakh". The Economic Times. Retrieved 30 December 2018.
  13. ^ NULL. "Fiat India automobiles sales growth of 78% in Feb 2010". Moneycontrol.com. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  14. ^ bsmotoring.com (16 March 2010). "Fiat eyes to double sales this year". Bsmotoring.com. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
  15. ^ "Fiat targets sales of 130,000 cars". The Hindu Business Line. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
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