Fiat’s Magneti Marelli and Carnation Auto tie-up

Magneti Marelli, Fiat’s subsidiary has announced a tie-up with Jagdish Kattar’s Carnation Auto to service top brands like Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa-Romeo and Lancia in the India. Does this mean that these brands are getting ready for their launch in India? Most likely the answer is yes. This move is likely to create a conflict of interests with Tata Motors which currently handles the sales and service of Fiat’s cars.

The decision taken by Fiat is undisputable. It is essential to setup state of the art service centres to take care of expensive machines. Such a service will be very difficult to achieve with the help of Tata. Speaking to ET, Carnation Auto MD Jagdish Khattar said: “I don’t see any conflict of interest with Tata Motors because the agreement has been approved by the top management of Fiat.” When contacted, the Tata Motors spokesman said: “We cannot make any comments because we are unaware of the nature of the agreement (between Carnation and Magneti Marelli).”

Earlier this year, this is what Ratan Tata had to say  “We have various projects, to take the Nano to Latin America together, to share platforms for new cars, we have projects for (Fiat lorry unit) Iveco and marketing Ferraris and Maseratis.” The long standing relationship with Fiat already distributes expensive cars like the fully imported Fiat 500 and the Palio, Punto and Linea. A joint venture between the two companies manufactures cars, powertrains for the Indian and overseas market.

This definitely means that Fiat is planning to officially launch Ferrari and Maserati in India. “Although its natural for Fiat to consult Tata Motors for all their brands, there’s no carte blanche and they don’t have to use the Tata Motors channel,” he said. The tricky issue is regarding Fiat 500, which Tata Motors is currently both selling and servicing. “That’s something the Tata Fiat JV will have to think about and take up,” said a person close to Tata Motors.

Things would get clear at the Auto expo though. Wait for it!

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