Fiat to expand dealer network

Our Bureau

MANGALORE, Nov. 6

FIAT India (P) Ltd, the 100 per cent subsidiary of Fiat (Italy), is planning a five-fold increase in its production from 10,000 cars per annum to 50,000 cars per annum.

In what is supposed to be the beginning of the company's next phase in its plans for the Indian market, the dealer network has been singled out for special attention, with several new dealers having been appointed and dealer training programmes conducted on a priority basis on both the technical as well as commercial fronts.

Karnataka, for instance, now has three dealers _ in Bangalore, Hubli and now in Mangalore. Customers can now have their own Palio which is supposed to be the largest selling car in Brazil.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday to announce the launch of an exclusive Fiat dealership, representatives of Tribhuvan Automobiles Pvt Ltd, said that Fiat is poised to transform itself from being a niche player to becoming a major market player. They claimed that in just four years more than two million customers from 40 countries including Germany, Italy, France, Spain, South Africa and India have become owners of Palio variants.