Fiat's Rs 60 cr marketing Italian job

New Delhi, Jan 15 (UNI) Making a good car is one thing but marketing it well is an entirely different story, and Fiat seems to have learnt its lessons as it plans to invest more than Rs 60 crore into marketing the entire product line in the country which will include the Grande Punto, Linea, Bravo and Fiat 500 this year.

''We plan to spend over Rs 60 crore this year. Today we have lots of option. Earlier, we had the print and the TV and Radio paved the way to the present day FM and now the Web. If you look at our profile of customers, most of them are web-based,'' said Fiat India Automobiles Pvt Ltd (FIAPL) Commercial Ricky Walter.

They look at the web and find out about the car. You don't have to sell them the car, they know each and every detail, he added.

Fiat Powertrain CEO Alfredo Altavilla has already said that changing the logo, import of Bravo and 500 are all consistent with its plan to ramp up its sales in India.

The company has earmarked sales of 70,000 units by 2010.

Mr Altavilla had said in past that people have not been aware of brand and the world over Fiat has undertaken aggressive marketing to create the brand awareness. ''We will be doing whatever it takes in terms of marketing in India,'' he said.

Fiat has over the past year and half undertaken aggressive and innovative marketing strategies. From the dazzling Fiat 500 launch in Torino (Italy) to the 500 launch in the UK on January 21 2008, which will be exactly 500 hours after the start of the New Year, is a inkling of what the company might have for India.

''You can play around with the media now. We are aggressively building up our deeler network to ensure that our Fiat brand is well communicated,'' Mr Walter said.

The company will launch the Fiat 500 and Bravo in the second quarter of the year and subsequently the Fiat Linea in third and Grande Punto in the fourth quarter.

By the fourth quarter the company plans to have 100 delears.

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