Fiat India tells IAB its low-price hatchback is unlikely to be Palio, Uno or Panda

Fiat India's CEO Mr.Rajeev Kapoor spoke to IndianAutosBlog.com at the Fiat Caffe unveiling in Janpat, New Delhi. He was not very forthcoming about future products but his answer was filled with clues on the upcoming car that is going to be positioned in the high volume segment.

Rajeev Kapoor to IndianAutosBlog.com -

You see any product that is coming to India now by us or any other manufacturer has to be very India specific because, India is turning out to be a predominant diesel market. Any car which comes to India has to very India centric because they have to address specific needs that the customers want. So yes we've been working on a car. The market has been evolving for us in the sense that in the last two years we've been trying to focus on these two cars (Punto and Linea), we got some good learning from launching these cars from our customers, like battery, AC etc, so we said we need to sit down and perfect those first. So in the coming future you will see a car from Fiat. That car could be on any available platform of Fiat. That's not an issue. You have seen Panda, Uno, 500, this car could be on any platform but it should be suitable for India..so the work is going on and at the right time we'll let you know!

Mr Kapoor insisted that Fiat's new car is an India specific model and the focus this year is on the Punto and Linea. The Uno, Palio and Panda are not India specific cars. They have been designed and developed for South American and some European markets where those nameplates are heavyweights. The small car for India is likely to come out next year.