Fiat India commenced production of its Linea mid-size saloon at its new Ranjangaon plant near Pune on November 21. The Linea is the first new model for the Italian carmaker in India in seven years. The plant at Ranjangaon has been set up jointly with its partner Tata Motors and has a capacity to produce 200,000 cars and 300,000 engines and transmissions per annum at peak capacity.

The company plans to launch the Linea in the C- plus segment with pricing estimated to be between Rs 7-9 lakh. It has a choice of engines including a 90bhp version of Fiat’s 1.3 Multijet diesel engine, as well as a 16 valve, 1.4-litre, 95bhp petrol motor. Fiat will also make an eight-valve version of this petrol unit for supply to Tata Motors. The company will also manufacture a five- speed manual transmission unit at Ranjangaon.

The fully integrated manufacturing plant includes a body shop, assembly line, paint shop (which is to be commissioned shortly) and powertrain plant and is spread over 200 acres.

Among the future models to be made here are the Fiat Grande Punto hatch and New Tata Indigo, which is based on the same X1 platform as the Indica Vista. Production capacity can be increased to 500,000 units per annum in the future.

According to Rajeev Kapoor, CEO, Fiat India Automobiles Ltd, “the start of production of the Linea is an important milestone for us and is a significant step in fulfilling the promise we had made at the Auto Expo in New Delhi this year. The plant has made progress as planned. We have also commenced export activity from the plant and would continue to do so to utilise the capacities.” Fiat currently exports its Palio 1.2-litre petrol model to South Africa and plans to include other versions of the Palio, as well as the Linea and Grande Punto in the future.

Echoing these comments Rajeev Dube, director, Fiat India, said: “This is a major step towards revitalising the Fiat brand in India. Fiat is committed to India in a big way and hopes to go from strength to strength. Tata Motors is willing to help in every possible way.”