| | Fiat's making a comeback with the brilliant new Linea which will then pave the way for the company's future line up. Muntaser Mirkar takes the big sedan through the grind. Ever wondered how, when Indian manufacturers are mentioned abroad, they're more often than not laughed at and ridiculed? Well, it's the same in India too. Head to France and say you drive a Peugeot and no one's going to question your choice - not the case in the homeland though, is it? Walk into Italy and mention you drive a Fiat and you're immediately at home. But back in India, the company's not exactly got that same great grace going for itself has it? In a way a lot of Indian motoring does owe itself to Fiat - after all it was the Padmini that a whole bunch of the older Indian generation was driving along in before Maruti threw the spanner in the works with its cute, little 800. 
Fiat Linea Pricing: (Ex-Showroom, Delhi) Variant | Petrol/Diesel | Delhi | Mumbai | Active | Petrol | Rs.5,98,967 | Rs.6,17,940 | Dynamic | Petrol | Rs.6,29,972 | Rs.6,49,846 | Dynamic PK | Petrol | Rs.6,57,978 | Rs.6,78,664 | Emotion | Petrol | Rs.6,69,980 | Rs.6,91,015 | Emotion PK | Petrol | Rs.6,98,984 | Rs.7,20,862 | Active | Diesel | Rs.6,88,983 | Rs.7,10,570 | Dynamic | Diesel | Rs.7,18,989 | Rs.7,41,447 | Dynamic PK | Diesel | Rs.7,46,993 | Rs.7,70,266 | Emotion | Diesel | Rs.7,56,996 | Rs.7,80,558 | Emotion PK | Diesel | Rs.8,10,004 | Rs.8,35,105 | | Since then, Fiat has tried a number of times to make a comeback into the mindsets of the Indian populace as a manufacturer of quality cars - notably with the Uno and later on with the Palio. While Fiat's hatch on the world car platform - the Palio did catch the fancy of young Indians especially with the 1.6 litre engine option, other factors again faltered the company's reputation on Indian soil. Owners of the Palio 1.6 though, still swear by the car. After shifting from Kurla to a spanking new facility at Ranjangaon, Fiat again hoped to revive their brand name in India and this came in the form of the Palio Stile and in more recent times the cute Fiat 500. While the 500 was bogged down by CBU-scale import duties that took the price tag over Rs14 lakh, the small car was only to set the flavour for the launch of some of Fiat's more significant models. Braving the current economic downturn is the fruit of the Tata-Fiat partnership in India - the Linea. The car is no stranger to the rest of the world with it doing service in Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East since its launch in 2007. For India though, the car will be attempting to rewrite the laws of the sedan segment. |
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