Fiat, the Italian car maker, will launch its two world cars_-the Siena and the Palio_-in India next year.
While the Siena would be launched in January 1998, the Palio would follow suit after a couple of months around the middle of next year. The cars would be launched through Fiat India Automobile Ltd, the Italian major's 100 per cent subsidiary in India.
Though company executives refused to divulge the price of the models, sources close to the company revealed that the base model of the Siena (turbo diesel variant) would be around Rs 5.5 lakh while the base model of the Palio (turbo diesel variant) would be approximately Rs 4.5 lakh.
Both the models would be available in two engine variants and two equipment variants. The two engine variants would be the 1700 cc turbo diesel engine and the 1200 cc multipoint fuel injection petrol engine, while the equipment variants would be the EL and the ELX models and all the models would have an air-conditioner as a standard feature.
The cars would be initially launched by assembling completely knocked down/semi-knocked down kits but the models would achieve an indigenisation level of about 65 per cent within their first year of commercial production followed by an additional 10 per cent by the turn of the century.
The 1.2 litre MPFI petrol engine with a four cylinder overhead camshaft which delivers 72 bhp at 6000 rpm, its torque rating being 10.2 kgm at 3000 rpm. The four cylinder, transverse 1.7 turbo diesel engine delivers a power of 64 bhp at 4500 rpm, its torque output being 12.2 kgm at 2500 rpm.
Fiat has fixed a production target of 10,000 cars for both the models in all the variants during the first one year of commercial production. Both the models would be initially manufactured at Fiat's Kurla plant which belongs to Ind Auto, Fiat's joint venture company with Premier Automobile Ltd.
However, the manufacturing facilities would be subsequently transferred to Ranjangaon
where Fiat is setting up a greenfield plant .
According to a company statement, "In the period 1997-2000, the Fiat group is committed to invest around $1 billion in India".
Designed by the Fiat Styling Centre, the Siena and the Palio offer five different types of body work including a hatchback, three-box car, station wagon, van and a pick-up.
This has been achieved by developing a modular platform which can give rise to five different body types suiting the different cultural and local specifications which cannot be met by one single model, says company executives.
The end result was that different models were developed from a single base using state-of-the-art technology, they point out.
