Boosted by the recent successful arrival on the Indian market of the Linea and Grande Punto which joined the Palio in the showrooms, Fiat India Automobiles is expecting to break even in 2011 when it will target selling 80,000 cars. It will represent a stunning turnaround in the Italian carmaker’s fortunes in a market where it has previously failed to shine.

Fiat India Automobiles is a 50-50 split joint venture with Tata Motors and Fiat Group Automobiles and operates a state-of-the-art production facility at Ranjangaon in Pune where all three models are assembled.

"We expect a cash breakeven in 2011 by which time we will be selling 80,000 fiat-branded cars," Fiat India Automobiles CEO Rajeev Kapoor Fiat India Automobiles told reporters today on the sidelines of the annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). He added that this year Fiat India expects to sell around 27,000 units. This comes just days after the division secured an Rs 2,500-crore line of credit from a consortium of banks that will be used primarily to expand production capability at the Ranjangaon factory up to 200,000 units a year. Reaching the 80,000 units target next year in India will be achieved by the Linea, Grande Punto and Palio, as well as by the Fiat 500, which is imported and sold in small numbers.

Kapoor also told the press at SIAM today that Fiat's retail prices could be raised. One of Fiat India's constant past failings was to overprice its cars and finally learning from this mistake has seen Linea and Grande Punto in particular being very competitively priced for their market entries this year. "There are no margins left," he said, adding that "we may look at revising our prices upwards."

Flushed by its success since its relaunch and introduction of well-received new models, Fiat India Automobiles also expects to export around 7,000 cars this year and is actively looking for further opportunities within the SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to boost these figures upwards. SAARC was established in December 1985 and comprises of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Kapoor confirmed the first batch of Lineas destined for South Africa will be shipped next month.

The Fiat Group has long eyed making India one of its major global manufacturing hubs and with its Ranjangaon factory now producing the Grande Punto and Linea as well as the Palio, all of which feature very high levels of local component content, and a rapidly-growing domestic market, it has the core of models to fulfil these ambitions. Last year Fiat India exported just 800 cars, all of which were the B-segment Palio hatchback and shipped to South Africa.

Born out of the ashes of Fiat's last unsuccessful foray into India, Fiat India Automobiles operates the former Fiat factory at Ranjangaon in Pune. This state-of-the-art facility has the capacity to produce 200,000 vehicles per year, as well as engines and transmissions. The Linea started to roll off the Ranjangaon production lines at the beginning of the year to strong local market acclaim, pushing forward Fiat India's rebirth, and it has been joined this summer by the Grande Punto, which also looks set for a strong future in India. The factory is expected to build cars for Tata Motors as well as future Fiat models. Fiat India has plans to develop its own models and is currently evaluating ambitious projects including breaking into the growing 600cc market segment.