Times have not changed for the Italian-American venture -Fiat Chrysler India- with its latest foray of storied Jeep brand of SUV not able to capitalist on the stupendous shift to such sporty vehicles in India and continues to reel under the distorted Fiat legacy.
Sports Utility Vehicles or SUV’s, have been the toast of the market with several grand successes like the Maruti’s Vitara Brezza, Hyundai’s Creta and Toyota’s Forturner making them the hottest in the league.
There’s been a bigger success in the luxury market with Mercedes-Benz and Audi increasing its local presence on the back of massive demand for their SUV models. The same is not the story of world’s most acclaimed SUV brand ‘Jeep’, that outsells every major SUV brand in the developed market like Europe or the US.
We tell you how it went in India so far. The American automaker on back of its global Italian partner Fiat entered India with massive expectations and renewed freshness to change the sagging fortunes. The much-awaited Jeep Compass had evoked massive response after brand shapers like Wrangler and Cherokee brought some positivity into the Fiat-Jeep brand.
All these models introduced and brought by Fiat India Automobile that common customer believed will change for good but did they know the fact that same dealers (Fiat ones) were retailing them from their existing outlets. The customers gave a massive benefit of doubt to Fiat’s pathetic service record and went ahead for the Compass SUV in huge numbers making it a toast of the market initially. All went off well for a year, eventually the dire experience of after sale-service took toll and the Jeep products fell to the Fiat’s breached legacy.
Sales started dwindling and customers who took the risk of buying new Jeep offerings started receiving treatment quite like the erstwhile Fiat counterparts. Now there’s hardly any news of the company and its brands with complete silence on the Renegade SUV or anything else coming forth.
Not much is coming on Fiat’s plans to launch two more locally produced Jeep models in the next three years—a sub-four metre SUV placed below the Compass and a three-row SUV.
To promote the existing Jeep, Fiat India had undertaken strategic marketing initiatives to showcase its capabilities, in addition to developing and migrating about 35 of its biggest Fiat dealers to sell cars under the Fiat, Jeep and Abarth brands. Several other Fiat dealerships, which were unviable for years, were closed quietly.
Fiat India has also set up close to 70 dealerships exclusively for the Jeep brand, which can also sell imported models such as the Wrangler and the Grand Cherokee. Fiat dealers were largely selling only highly localized models such as the Compass.
Fiat, which started selling its cars in India in 1905, has a chequered history. Despite momentary wins such as the Palio and Uno hatchbacks, Fiat has been largely unsuccessful as it could not compete with rivals such as Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai Motor India.
Now there is some serious thinking over the future of the brand. Uninspiring sales and diluting brand. The latest testimony is the dwindling sales which declined by a massive 58.84 % to mere 1164 units for November 2018 over the last corresponding year. This does not portray a good picture of the company and the brand it sells.
So, where’s the company heading to? Its future is quite uncertain. Why? Just one of the oldest surviving automotive brand in India seems to be losing lustre and grip on the market to its Japanese and Korean peers. Another fallout is a disgruntled set of dealers who haven’t quite gone well on profitability and are averse to continue with the company for long.
Confessing on the issues and problems, Fiat India’s president and managing director, Kevin Flynn told the media that getting a business model (for Fiat in India) to really stack up was a tough challenge”, on the intense competition and weak profitability in India’s crowded car market.
