Fiat Palio 1999-2010

Fiat has decided to phase out its ageing Palio and concentrate on its newer line-up of cars instead. The implementation of Bharat Stage-4 norms from April will see the Palio bow out from the 13 metros while it will be continued to be sold in the tier-2 cities until 2015-2016 when these cities also adopt BS-4. We would peg this as the death of the Palio in India as the new-generation hatchbacks will dominate the segment going forward. Although this might come as sad news to  many, the empty spot left by the Palio will be filled by the all new Uno which Fiat might consider bringing to India. From the spy pictures, the car looks potent and could put Fiat back in a strong position.

According to company sources, “The cities where these vehicles will not be sold are already seeing a significant decline in the sale of the Palio, adding that people have already upgraded to Grand Punto and thus it is not going to have a very major impact on sales of these two vehicles which can continue in the rest of the country.” He also added, “We have no plans to come out with a refreshed variant of Palio.”

The Fiat Palio initially took off well breaking into the top 10 in monthly sales before an array of problems from poor fuel efficiency to bad service quality left the company in pieces. Fiat pumped some more to bring out the ‘nv’ with minor improvements in ECU to improve efficiency but Fiat’s name had already been tarnished by then. The facelift in 2008 along with beige interiors could do nothing to stop this fall in sales. Fiat even launched special editions like S10 autographed by Sachin Tendulkar and the 1.6 sports, which till date is the best hot hatch in India. The ads featuring Michael Schumacher were aired in India but even Michael couldnt bring back Fiat’s reputation.

Finally Fiat decided to take the game ahead by launching the Linea and Grande Punto although this time they partnered Tata for service and sales. While this is not the best move, it did improve sales and Fiat’s cars are selling in 1000s, much better than the 2 digit sales figures of the Palio. Going forward, we expect an all new hatch from Fiat to replace the Palio and higher levels of customer quality from Tata’s dealers. The Palio was a great car but sadly never clicked. The all new Uno could do the trick and we expect nothing less from Fiat.