Jeep's entry to reduce Tata-Fiat ties only to engines
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's announcement of bringing Jeep to India has triggered a lot of movement at Fiat India. After ending the sales JV with Tata in May 2012, the next step is to stop production of the Manza at Fiat's Ranjangaon plant. Vendors supplying to Tata Motors have already been instructed to shift supply of components from Ranjangaon to Tata's plant in Pimpri.
The JV between Tata and Fiat was believed to be an understanding that Tata was to undertake sales and service responsibilities and Fiat was to manage production of the Manza at their plant. Tata's failure at the sales and service front resulted in conclusion of the sales JV and now since Tata's contribution to the JV has been removed, Fiat has no reason to continue production of Tata's Manza at their plant. And now that Marchionne has announced introduction of the Jeep brand, Fiat could be making space for its own future models at the plant. This development should go hand in hand with announcements we are expecting to be made by Mike Manley- President and CEO â" Jeep and Chrysler Group LLC, Chief Operating Officer- Fiat-Chrysler Asia Pacific at a press conference to be held in Mumbai within a week, this is specifically with regards to Jeep operations beginning in India.
In the coming months, the entire assembly line of the Tata Manza will be shifted to Pimpri. In order to make space for production of the Manza, production of some slow-selling models will be shifted to Tata's 953 acre Pantnagar facility where it currently manufactures the Ace and Magic.
