The Fiat Grande Punto is set to be launched in India in one week's time with the mass-selling supermini aiming to follow the recent sales success of the Linea which has done wonders to turn around Fiat's faded image in the country ever since it went on sale at the start of the year. The Grande Punto will be the third Fiat model to be assembled at the state-of-the-art Ranjangaon factory in Maharashtra, following the Palio Stile, which saw its range recently boosted by the addition of a 1.3-litre Multijet turbodiesel engined version (above), and the Linea.

The Fiat Grande Punto is set to be launched in India in one week's time with the mass-selling supermini aiming to follow the recent sales success of the Linea which has done wonders to turn around Fiat's faded image in the country ever since it went on sale at the start of the year.

The Linea sedan has proved an instant hit for Fiat in India and immediately after it was launched in January it was lauded by the press, quickly collecting a string of awards from the country's leading specialist publications. The B-segment Grande Punto will be the third Fiat model to be assembled at the state-of-the-art Ranjangaon factory in Maharashtra, following the Palio Stile (which saw its range recently boosted by the addition of a 1.3-litre Multijet turbodiesel engined version) and the Linea. "The Grande Punto will roll out from the company’s state-of-the-art plant at Ranjangaon which also manufactures Fiat’s Linea and Palio," a statement from Fiat India Automobiles Ltd last week confirmed.

Fiat India Automobiles Ltd (FIAL), is a 50:50 joint venture between Fiat and India's biggest national carmaker, Tata Motors. After the repeated failures of FIAL to establish itself in this key global growth market ever since it was first incorporated in 1997, the joint venture signed with Tata Motors two years ago has finally offered a promising path to the future and it now sees Fiat models assembled at the Ranjangaon plant, which is now operated by both companies, and Fiat's growing model range is also sold in selected Tata dealers. In a statement last week to announce the launch of the Grande Punto, FIAL said that "the company is also working to ensure that the car is supported through a robust Tata-Fiat dealer network comprising of 100 sales and service outlets by time of launch."

FIAL has now announced that the Grande Punto will be positioned in the hotly-contested small premium hatchback segment in India where it will be pitted against several well regarded rival models. The key players in this segment that the Grande Punto will go up against will be Maruti Suzuki's Ritz, Hyundai's i20, Skoda's Fabia and the soon-to-be launched jazz model from Honda Siel.

Fiat and Tata Motors have set high local component sourcing targets for the joint venture production models and the localisation of parts for the Grande Punto is set to reach 85 percent by the end of the year. Local content sourcing is being boosted by a string of joint ventures set up in India in recent years by the Fiat Group's Magneti Marelli division. In January last year Magneti Marelli and Sumi Motherson Group signed an agreement for the creation of a joint venture in India aimed at the production of components that covered the areas of lighting and engine control systems, while in June that year Magneti Marelli and Endurance Technologies Pvt. Ltd. agreed a new 50-50 joint venture agreement aimed at the production of shock absorbers for motor vehicles at two facilities, one in India and one in Thailand, from mid this year. Then last autumn the Italian firm agreed terms with Unitech Machines Limited to create a joint venture that will see production of motor vehicle electronic systems in India. This last JV is just coming on stream at the moment. As well as these three JVs Magneti Marelli, Suzuki Motor Corporation and Maruti Suzuki India Limited two years ago began a joint venture in India that produces ECUs for diesel engines.