The Fiat Linea (above) 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.

Revitalised 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 region to boost these figures.

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, 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.

"We have started sending Linea in South Africa and are looking for opportunities to export in SAARC countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka,"  Rajeev Kapoor, the CEO of Fiat India commented yesterday. SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) is a mainly economic zone set up in 1985 by India, Pakistan, Butan, Bangadesh, Nepal, Ski Lanka and the Maldives. Afghanistan became the eighth member of SAARC when it joined two years ago. "The first batch of Lineas has also been sent to South Africa in the current fiscal," Kapoor added. This initial quota will comprise of 90 vehicles.

Fiat India Automobiles is a 50-50 joint venture between Fiat Group and Tata Motors. Born out of the ashes of Fiat's last unsuccessful foray into India, it 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 and currently builds the Palio, Grande Punto and Linea. 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 in the future and is currently evaluating ambitious projects including breaking into the growing 600cc market segment.