Tata dealers will soon sell Fiat cars in India.
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The Italian automaker, which has seen a serious erosion of its brand identity in the country, needs a strong distribution partner like Tata to help its own limping dealership network.
While some Tata dealerships will soon start selling Fiats, existing Fiat dealerships will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
“Our relationship with Tata may extend well beyond the present situation, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said.
While both companies agreed that this is just a first step, there were no further commitments from either side.
“It is an evolving relationship beyond boundaries”, Tata Group head Ratan Tata added.
However, he ruled out any commitment to use Fiat’s facilities at Ranjangaon and Kalyan to make Tata cars. Tata’s plant in Pune is running at near full capacity.
Both companies’ CEOs hinted at further co-operation on product development, platform sharing, component sourcing and distribution. Collaboration may also allow Tata to use Fiat”s European network and R&D ability.
Deepesh Rathore/Tilak Swarup
