 "Fiat could be readying to launch premium Maserati in India at Rs 1.5 cr")
Just three days after German auto maker Audi launched its new A3 sedan priced between Rs 22.95 lakh as luxury car makers aim to tap the lower end of India’s luxury car market, reports say Italian car maker Fiat is finalising plans to launch its high-end sports car Maserati in India.
According to this Economic Times report, Fiat plans to open exclusive company-owned stores in major cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore to sell the sports car that is a 100-year old brand and is part of Fiat’s international luxury portfolio, which also includes Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.
According to this report, if launched in India, Maserati’s flag-ship sedan Quattroporte, Gran Turismo coupe, Ghibli sedan and GranCabrio convertible could be available in the price band of Rs 1.5-3 crore.
However, Nagesh Basavanhalli, president and managing director at Fiat Chrysler India, was quoted in the report as saying that it was premature to comment.
Fiat has been struggling to reinvent itself in the India with sluggish sales of existing models and is planning to launch its Abarth and Jeep brand vehicles over the next year. The launch of the Maserati could help it widen its portfolio of luxury cars in India.
The annual sales of luxury cars stand at just over 20,000 vehicles, or about 1 percent of the total car market, compared with around 7 percent in China and luxury carmakers have been trying to cut price tags for their cars in India.
According to an earlier Reuters report, luxury carmakers in India are moving downmarket and shifting production of smaller and cheaper cars to local plants to cut costs, broadening their target market to include young, female and middle-class drivers to boost lacklustre sales.
In an effort to raise stuttering sales that far lag emerging Asian rival China, the German big three of Mercedes-Benz, Audiand BMW want to win buyers outside the ultra-rich with locally-made hatchbacks and smaller cars. Given this scenario, is it a good time for Fiat to launch the expensive Maserati?
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