Epitaph: Fiat Palio, 1996-2010

Fiat Palio

The Fiat Palio gave Indians their first hot hatch with the Fiat Palio 1.6 Liter GTX. Till then, we Indians had to make do with the erstwhile Maruti Zen, which was and still is one very potent package, albeit a tiny one. The Fiat Palio came in two other versions, a 1.2 Liter petrol and a 1.9 Liter diesel. The diesel too stood out from the crowd for it’s refined manners and the revolutionary drive by wire system which was, at that time and age, a radical new technology that screamed cutting edge. The Fiat Palio was a sweet handler and exuded a built-to-last feel. Palio owners were particularly enthused by this factor as the Palio felt more like a heavier sedan than a skittish, light hatchback.

Fiat Palio

What dented the Fiat Palio’s success at the hustings was the abysmal fuel efficiency figures that Indians simply couldn’t accept. We, being a country of people obsessed by how far a car can go per liter of fuel, dumped the Fiat Palio and even Sachin Tendulkar’s Brand Ambassadorship and a rash of cosmetic upgrades couldn’t do much to save flagging sales.

While the Fiat Palio found a steady bunch of Fiat enthusiasts who embraced the ultra quick Palio 1.6 GTX, their passion too couldn’t do much to reignite Palio sales. The nail on the Palio’s coffin however wasn’t due to the poor mileage that the petrol variants returned, if it were to be, the Diesel Palio JTD should have managed decent numbers considering it’s refined and tech laden nature.

Fiat Palio

So what was it, that caused the Fiat Palio’s poor sales in the Indian small car market dominated by Marutis, Tatas and Hyundais? Squarely, it was the extremely incompetent after sales service that Fiat dealers were guilty of doling out to Fiat customers and to add insult to injury, the non availability/high price of the spares. Case in point was the Alternator assembly of the Fiat Palio 1.6GTX.

Scenes of Palio GTX owners waiting for weeks together for parts to arrive from the factory wasn’t unheard of. Such were the travails of Fiat owners a few years ago and Fiat India’s management or rather mismanagement of this critical area of after sales support didn’t help matters.

Fiat Palio Stile

Of course, as a matter of fact, things have vastly improved after Fiat India got it’s act together in it’s second innings in India, a period when the erstwhile Kurla plant was shut down and the entire Fiat India operations shifted to Ranjangaon, Pune. It was this move from Fiat India which saw them have a great hold on overall product quality and also motivated them to pull up their socks to improve the after sales support.

Fiat India publicly acknowledged the issues with it’s after sales service and as a testament to it’s commitment to ensure a great ownership experience, Fiat owners could directly get in touch with the CEO, Rajeev Kapoor on Fiat’s homepage.

Fiat Palio Stile

This, along with some serious ground work at the dealers level like a tie up with Tata Motors for sales and service ensured that after sales service improved quite a bit. Meanwhile, one of the last Palios, the Palio Stile MJD, which featured the tried and tested 1.3 Liter Fiat Multijet engine saw a launch. This launch along with a styling makeover for the Palio suddenly catapulted Fiat India back into the minds of consumers who wanted more of the Fiat Palio. Also helping matters was the value for money pricing approach that Fiat took while pricing the Fiat Palio Stile.

While the Fiat Palio Stile Multijet led the sales charts, the 1.2 petrol and the 1.6GTX managed decent numbers. Fiat India tried to take the fight to the likes of the Maruti Alto and Hyundai Xing by outfitting the Fiat Palio Stile with a 1.1 liter petrol engine. Needless to say, the extremely underpowered engine lugging the heavy Palio Stile huffed and puffed to find buyers till Fiat India finally pulled the plug on it.

Fiat Palio Stile

Then came the Bharat Stage 4 emission norms. These stricter norms made sure that the petrol versions of Fiat Palio Stile didn’t make the cut. Fiat India too didn’t bother as it hands are currently full with the brisk sales of the Fiat Grande Punto and the Fiat Linea. While the Fiat Palio Stile MJD could have made the BS4 cut with a few modifications, Fiat India, for reasons best known to them decided to discontinue this sweet handling, peppy yet frugal car.

As the production of the Fiat Palio ceased, hordes of upset Palio enthusiasts carry on with the hope that Fiat India will relaunch an all new Palio in the near future. This however, might simply not happen even as rumors of a Palio resurgence do the rounds across the globe. Here is why.

Fiat's 5 Year Product Road Map

On 21st April, FIAT CEO Sergio Marchionne presented the 5 year roadmap for FIAT. We managed to get hold of one of the slide which carries some crucial information, especially with context to the Palio. Fiat’s official slide shows no Palio in the line up. This essentially means that the Fiat Palio will be discontinued worldwide. Instead there is B-Compact hatchback that will be launched instead of the Palio. As of today, the B-Compact is touted to be called the Fiat Uno rather than the Fiat Palio.

News of the Fiat Uno making it to Indian shores remains sketchy at the moment.

2011 Fiat Uno

So, there, this is it. The long innings of the Fiat Palio has come to an end. Finally, here’s what I think the Fiat Palio’s epitaph should read:

Fiat Palio: 1996-2010, Great product, totally mismanaged by Fiat India.

Image Courtesy: Italiaspeed

Fiat Palio Photo Gallery

: 2011 Fiat Uno Car

: Fiat Palio Cars

: Fiat Palio Stile

: Fiat Palio Stile

: Fiat Palio Stile

: Fiat Palio White

: Fiat Palio Yellow

: Fiat’s 5 Year Product Road Map

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April 28, 2010 | By Jay Prashanth · Tags: Fiat Palio 1.2 ELX, Fiat Palio 1.3MJD, Fiat Palio 1.6 GTX, Fiat Palio 1.9 JTD

Comments

3 Responses to “Epitaph: Fiat Palio, 1996-2010”

krish on June 3rd, 2010 1:11 pm

i own a April2002 Palio1.2.I do not wish to dispose the car.But i am very much frightened about the future, about spareparts.Can i have any assurance on this aspect or do i consign my car to junk?
rajesh devgan on July 29th, 2010 4:29 pm

i own a fiat palio bought in 2003 i have broken 1 key and have lost the second one with key no W 2922 PLS ADvISE HOW I cAN HAve THE NEW KEYS

RAJESH DEvGAN
09878740824 – m
S A SHAH on August 2nd, 2010 2:48 pm

A ‘blind-fiat-palio-lover’ is desperately waiting for Palio2011 loaded with ABS and 1.9-Diesel heart to drive the ‘emotional-drivers’ like me ‘mad’—–Is Fiat-India listening.
S A SHAH, NIT,Srinagar,J&K, India