The JV between Fiat Automobiles and Tata Motors is on the verge of launching a new small car at Rs3-3.5 lakhs. The car would roll down in the next year end or early 2012, said the CEO of Fiat. The car would be crafted on the pros and cons gained from the company’s premium cars- Palio and Grande Punto. The experiment with Linea did not work out well and the focus will now be on full-fledged small car to make it the benchmark for the company.
The features will be derived from the four door 500, a CBU being sold at Rs15 lakh. Since its launch 64 units have been sold in the country. Having analysed the Indian economy well the company now likens to enter the small car segment. As such there will be a refined Linea under the same platform. It will undergo a change in petrol by getting 1.4 turbo charged gasoline engine and the Grande Punto will get the 90hp version. There will be a variant under gasoline-CNG in Punto which will automatically shift the choice of fuel.