Fiat small car to take on Alto

Fiat India is gearing up to make a splash of its own in the country’s booming small car market by launching an India-specific car in 2012. The company’s much-talked about new small car will not bear any resemblance to the company’s Uno model. The car will be launched in 2012 and will be an entry-level model, priced much below the company’s premium hatchback, Punto.

“It will be an all-new car, nothing to do with any of our other models and will be priced aggressively. It will compete with the Alto and will have a one-litre engine,” Rajeev Kapoor, MD, Fiat India .

“The Uno brand has become rather generic in nature. We are still figuring out a new brand name for the car,” he added.  “The new car will be an India-specific one, made in India, made for India, keeping in mind the country’s unique terrain and temperatures. Our R&D team is working day in and day out to develop the car that meets consumers’ needs in the best manner,” he added.

With this car, Fiat hopes to get its product across to a much larger set of consumers and to effectively increase its market share from the current 1.5%.Fiat targets to sell a total of 40,000 cars in India this year.