A year after its introduction onto the local market Fiat India Automobiles is set to introduce a more powerful version of the Linea as it seeks to expand the appeal of the sedan model which has enjoyed great success in its first year on sale in India.

A year after its introduction onto the local market Fiat India Automobiles is set to introduce a more powerful version of the Linea as it seeks to expand the appeal of the sedan model which has enjoyed great success in its first year on sale in India. At present the Linea in India is powered by the 1.3 litre Multijet turbodiesel and the 1.4 litre FIRE petrol engines, but adding a new unit will boost its appeal across the highly competitive segment for compact sedans.

"We are keen to showcase the more powerful Linea at the auto expo," says Fiat India Automobiles (FIAL) CEO Rajeev Kapoor, although he declined to specify the powerplant that will be fitted. Local media speculation points towards the 1.9 litre Multijet turbodiesel as being the most likely unit to propel the Linea into a deeper battle for key C-segment market share, although Fiat Powertrain’s new 1.6 litre turbodiesel could be an option. This important sales arena currently led by the Honda City. The New Delhi Auto Expo takes place in early January next year.

The Linea was launched in India last January and immediately won a swage of important awards from the local motoring media. The sedan which is also built in Brazil and Turkey, recently clocked past the 10,000 sales barrier in India, meaning average sales of around 1,300 units a month, thus giving it a market success unheard of for Fiat in recent years.

The only negativity has been a perceived lack of power in some applications and FIAL will address that with a new higher capacity range-topper. FIAL have to be wary though of trying to push the Linea upmarket, a trap Fiat Brazil have fallen right into forgetting that this model was designed as a low-cost sedan as well as picking a choice of engines unsuited to the car.

FIAL, a 50-50 joint venture between Fiat Group Automobiles and India domestic automotive giant Tata Motors, is also targeting exports of the Linea, as well as the B-segment Grande Punto which was launched onto the local market in the summer. Both models, along with the Palio, are built at FIAL’s Ranjangaon factory in Pune. The Linea achieves 85 percent localisation of parts, with the Grande Punto targeted to achieve 80 percent by the end of the first quarter of next year.  

In its first export order, 250 units of the Linea have recently been shipped to South Africa. FIAL will also investigate further external markets for the Linea and Grande Punto  as it aims to export around 10 percent of their production. "We will in the first phase cater to the neighbouring markets of Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan and then look at markets such as New Zealand and Australia," Kapoor said. FIAL’s exports are targeted at 3,200 cars for the next 12 months.

FIAL has also been initially successful with exporting engines and drivetrains to Fiat’s European factories. "Thanks to the scrappage policy, there was a big demand for small cars. Also, Indian components are still 15-20% more competitive then the international companies. Due to this over the last six months we have exported 25,000 small engines to Europe as against a target of 10,000 units," Kapoor added.