Although little known in the U.S., Fiat has another major joint venture outside of Chrysler that involves a shared dealer network and joint manufacturing - with none other than Indian automaker Tata Motors.
Fiat and Tata have been joined in a 50:50 joint venture for some time now, with the goal to share manufacturing costs and help promote the Fiat brand in India, but so far things haven't gone according to plan. Despite the shortcomings, especially for Fiat, Sergio Marchionne says that the partnership will continue, albeit with some changes.
According to The Economic Times , Marchionne told reporters, "The terms will change, but the project will keep going ahead." The changes will be needed due to the fact that initial goals and sales figures were a bit too lofty, particularly for Fiat as the "joint" dealer network consists of Tata dealers that tend to favor selling their own products over the Italian counterparts.
Indian industry experts believe that the partnership can still hold value to both companies, but Fiat needs to establish its owner dealer network and do a better job of developing a brand image in the Indian market if it wants to survive.
In the last three years the partnership has not turned a profit, but the rate at which it is losing money has decreased with each subsequent year.
References
1.'Fiat to continue...' view
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