Less than a month since its arrival in the showrooms across India the Fiat Linea (above, seen during January's media launch) is driving forward a revival in the Italian carmaker's fortunes in the country having made an instant impact with 1,512 examples of the sedan being sold in January.

Less than a month since its launch in India the Fiat Linea is driving forward a revival in the Italian carmaker's fortunes in the country having made an instant impact with 1,512 examples of the sedan being sold in January. The Linea makes up the bulk of the 1,721 units that Fiat Automobiles India sold last month, the remainder of the cars being the revised Palio Stile 1.1 and 1.6.

The Linea has also made a good first impression with the Indian automotive media and has collected several important honours already, but the sales figures are all the more impressive as Fiat has virtually dropped out of sight in India in recent years and its patchy range hasn't been seriously considered as an option by car buying consumers.

Fiat India has undergone a comprehensive restructuring over the last year-and-a-half and its dealer network has been fully overhauled with the majority of showrooms now being jointly branded with its joint venture partner in India, Tata Motors. Fiat India Automobiles Limited is a 50-50 Industrial Joint Venture between Fiat Group Automobiles S. p. A., and Tata Motors Limited originally incorporated on January 02, 1997. The company employs about 1,900 blue & white collar employees and is located at Ranjangaon in the Pune District of Maharashtra. The definitive agreement of the Joint Venture was signed in October 11, 2007. The board of directors for this company comprises of five nominees each from Fiat and Tata.

Fiat India hopes that with the Linea, tailored especially for this country and assembled locally, it has addressed the issues that has seen it decline in this market. "With this car which is equipped with Multijet and the FIRE engine, we hope to make inroads in the C+ segment," commented Mr. Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India Automobiles Ltd, at last month's media launch. "We have also ensured that the Linea appeals to a wide range of customers with its petrol and diesel variants and the various options available under each of them. The car has met with strong success across the world and although Linea has been designed with a strong Italian style, we have also taken into consideration local Indian tastes and requirements and have incorporated this into the Indian Linea."

The Linea has been launched onto the India market with a much wider range of equipment levels and options than has been the case with recent models. There are five specification levels: Active, Dynamic, Dynamic Pack, Emotion and Emotion Pack with the top end version getting anti-lock brakes and alloy wheels as standard. Active and passive safety features are class-leading while the Fiat-Microsoft developed Blue&Me infotelematic package is also standard fit on the highest levels. There are also six body colours for customers to choose from: Medium Gray, Vocal White, Flamengo Red, Pearl Champagne, Fox Trot Azure and Hip Hop Black.

Market pricing is also competitive. The Linea Active is the base version, with the entry level petrol option kicking off the pricing at Rs 6.19 lakh, while the 1.3 Multijet comes in at Rs 7.12 lakh. That is followed by the Linea Active (petrol: Rs 6,19,000/diesel: Rs 7,12,000); Linea Dynamic (petrol: Rs 6,51,000/diesel: Rs 7,43,000); Linea Dynamic Pack (petrol: Rs 6,80,000/diesel: Rs 7,72,000); Linea Emotion (petrol: Rs 6,92,000/diesel: Rs 7,82,000) and finally the range topping Linea Emotion Pack (petrol: Rs 7,22,000/diesel: Rs 8,36,000).