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Fiat finally finds a winner with Palio

BS Corporate Bureau

Fiat's Palio is proving to be a hit in India. After the prolonged slackness in sales with its other models, Fiat India has sold 1,100 Palios in the first two days since deliveries began on September 29.

Compare this with sales in July and August, the two months preceding the launch of the Palio, when the company sold just 1,237 units of its three other offerings-the Uno, the Siena and the Siena Weekend.

Fiat dealers and company executives are having a tough time meeting the demand for the car, which is being sold on a first-come-first-serve basis. About 35,000 people have visited Fiat dealerships across the country over the last two days, Fiat India said.

The demand for the Palio has been for the two top end versions -the 1.2-litre ELX, which is priced at Rs 399,000, and the 1.6-litre GTX, at Rs 499,000 (both ex-Bombay showroom prices).

While the ELX comes with power steering, power windows and central locking, the GTX is a fully-loaded version with all the works. Fiat is also offering two variants of the EL version, priced at Rs 349,000.

Though Fiat claims its chances of grabbing a major chunk of the market is imminent, auto analysts warn that it was still extremely premature to gauge the performance of the car.

Fiat India, after recording sluggish sales over the past two years, is hoping to sell 50,000 Palios in calendar year 2002. Fiat's Kurla plant, which currently manufactures the Palio, has a capacity of 60,000 units on a three-shift working basis.

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