Fiat Ponders Brand Approach to India

Fiat SpA tells The Wall Street Journal it will decide by early next year which of its brands to promote in India as it tries to catch such competitors as Suzuki, Toyota and Volkswagen.

Among the possibilities are the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands owned by affiliate Chrysler Group LLC, says Enrico Atanasio, head of Fiat's commercial operations in India,

Last year Fiat group sales slid 24% to only 16,100 vehicles in India as the country's passenger vehicle market grew nearly 5% to 2.6 million units. None of the company's previous joint ventures in India, including its just-ended partnership with Tata Motors Ltd., has been successful.

Fiat currently assembles the Grande Punto supermini and Linea family sedan locally. It also sells imported Maserati and Ferrari supercars through a local distributor.

Atanasio tells the Journal that Fiat also is studying whether to import finished vehicles or build models locally. Importing cars is simpler, but foreign-made vehicles carry heavy import tariffs that make them uncompetitive in India's mass market. Local production avoids those taxes but would not be profitable until Fiat boosted its volume to several times the current level.