Why Fiat Uno Failed to Capture Taxi Market?

[P3T3R]

Uno didn't do well even in private sector. Zens was introduced & uno was history. It was only santro which killed zen.]

Actually the Uno received huge bookings before the launch, whereas the Zen was not really popular in the begining. How many Zens have you seen with the 3 spoke steering wheel? Then Mr. Datta Samant organised a strike in PAL (no prizes for guessing who paid him) and the Uno production was stalled. With no other choice for the customer, the Zen sales took off. Finally someone killed Datta Samant (again no prizes for guessing who paid) and the strike was called off.

][/QUOTE]
BTW, does anyone remember the long form for Unos FIRE engine ?[/QUOTE]

I think it is Fully Integrated Robotised Engine.

 

[visran]

It was a product which was much ahead of it's time, it's just that the poor management killed it.

 

[codename47]

Fiat uno was 999CC engined car if am not mistaken ( I kinda remember this I dont know how )

This car was pretty good and why it didn't attract the TAXI market because of the brand name
Italian manufacturers , and the time of the launch it wasn't that famous either and people didn't know if the spares were available.

Expensive after sales repairs was one of the reasons I am guessing

 

[P3T3R]

It was a product which was much ahead of it's time, it's just that the poor management killed it.

Poor management and the perception that it was expensive compared to Maruti to maintain.

Fiat uno was 999CC engined car if am not mistaken ( I kinda remember this I dont know how )

That was the original petrol model. Later they launched it with the 1.2 Engine from the Palio and the 1.6 Diesel TDI.

Expensive after sales repairs was one of the reasons I am guessing

I owned one for quite a while, and it was not at all expensive. Besides the regular service, nothing was required.

 

[powerpacked]

There are many cars which are failed to achieve Taxi tag
Fiat didn’t aim to sell Uno in taxi market only.


Just few examples which I can recollect

Daewoo:- Matiz and Cielo
Maruti :- 800,Zen,Alto,Baleno
Skoda:- Octavia, Laura, Superb,
Toyota :- Corolla, Camry
Opel:- Astra ,Ford:- Escort


List can move on

Out of these cars some are total fail and some are brilliant hit, though these cars cannot attract Taxi owners.

Question

What is the reason to discuss just Uno’s failure in taxi segment?


Is this another way of bashing FIAT product

 

[Raja]

There are many cars which are failed to achieve Taxi tag
Fiat didn’t aim to sell Uno in taxi market only.


Just few examples which I can recollect

Daewoo:- Matiz and Cielo
Maruti :- 800,Zen,Alto,Baleno
Skoda:- Octavia, Laura, Superb,
Toyota :- Corolla, Camry
Opel:- Astra ,Ford:- Escort


List can move on

Out of these cars some are total fail and some are brilliant hit, though these cars cannot attract Taxi owners.

Question

What is the reason to discuss just Uno’s failure in taxi segment?


Is this another way of bashing FIAT product

+ 100 exactly Mercedes are used in Germany as taxis camrys in Dubai so now let's talk why they dibt took off as taxi in india .And again we here taking about a car which was launched with so many problems not from fiat but PAL. And some 1 is saying it bombed because it had a fiat brand bashing without research .

 

[Tornado]

Three major reasons for the diesel models-
1}pathetic ground clearance( not good for taxi use) whenever the underbody use to scrape , it led to damage to oil sump leading to expences more than 6 k.in the year 2000 to 2003.
2} exorbitant spare and servicing charges .For normal servicing charges were more than Rs 6 to 7 k.
3} lack of knowledge and failure to diagnose on the part of ASS.

Last week I got 30kkm servicing of my manza powered by fiat's diesel engine, total charges were Rs 5350

 

[alexddas]

Three major reasons for the diesel models-
1}pathetic ground clearance( not good for taxi use) whenever the underbody use to scrape , it led to damage to oil sump leading to expences more than 6 k.in the year 2000 to 2003.
2} exorbitant spare and servicing charges .For normal servicing charges were more than Rs 6 to 7 k.
3} lack of knowledge and failure to diagnose on the part of ASS.

Last week I got 30kkm servicing of my manza powered by fiat's diesel engine, total charges were Rs 5350

+100
Ground clearance was the main factor.
The diesel variant was expensive.
unavailablity of spares even the genuine one, have to wait till it get imported.
High maintenance cost as the dealer only had the spares and even tools.
Best car of the year 10 times made taxi people engage the reverse gear on it and as the owners were mostly docters made them think not affordable.

On engine and AC superb quality.
leg room and boot space extraordinary
performance on highways i bet the new engine will be over ruled.
stability more stable than swift and ritz and same on breaking too.

The dealers are cutting our throat,actual maintenance cost is very low.
They blackmail us on lose of warranty if service ia done outside
Once your warranty expires start doing outside on a reliable place you will feel the difference.

 

[Tornado]

@alex , all well said in one post.
I still miss the AC and engine. with improved ass and GC , if they launch it it will still grab lot of takers from taxi market.

 

[alexddas]

@alex , all well said in one post.
I still miss the AC and engine. with improved ass and GC , if they launch it it will still grab lot of takers from taxi market.

I did owned a second hand one for a shorter period but due to low GC i was forced to sell it.
Spares are now available in market but expensive than maruti.
I even changed the rim to a 15"alloys as i really wanted to keep it,still the difference in GC was very low.

Yeah the taxi market is waiting for a cheaper good engine from fiat.

 

[Gurrala74]

Oh !! friends thanks for starting a thread about a real rugged beautiful car from FIAT.

I still remember my BOSS was using a Premier 118NE and after UNO launch he bought one the white color and sold that 118NE and I bought that(with the financial help from my cousin). I every day used to look at that UNO to drive it once and some day I did it, and UNO friends I was surprised with its space and power delivery and it was really Awesome man.

Why it got failed my BOSS used to tell me that there was no proper response on A.S.S. part and the spares used to take lot of time and that is where he was really annoyed. BUT

UNO something, one my cousin bought one UNO diesel six months back and I think it is some 13 years old, believe me friends it is really strong even today and really go like a rocket and in bad roads too, I drive it quite often and next time I will take some pics and post here. I really love that CAR guys

 

[P3T3R]

There are many cars which are failed to achieve Taxi tag

Baleno

Check the parking lot at Goa Airport!

1}pathetic ground clearance.

Care to elaborate?

exorbitant spare and servicing charges .For normal servicing charges were more than Rs 6 to 7 k.

Did you experience this or just hear it. Have you checked how much Maruti charges?

lack of knowledge and failure to diagnose on the part of ASS.

Check my Alto thread. Even India's "Best" ASS has the same problem.

.

Last week I got 30kkm servicing of my manza powered by fiat's diesel engine, total charges were Rs 5350

Isn't that reasonable?

The diesel variant was expensive..

Please name a cheaper diesel car.

unavailablity of spares even the genuine one, have to wait till it get imported..

Are you sure? I never had to wait for regular spares. Only thing I waite for was an Alternator that had to be shipped from Brazil. BTW try you luck with simple spares for a Baleno.

High maintenance cost as the dealer only had the spares and even tools..

Name one manufacturer that doesn't do it.

 

[Tornado]

Fiat ASS experience prior to tata jv:

It was 2002\03.It was our first ever car, fiat uno- diesel.

Routine( 70,000 km) servicing was done,3 days back.

We were going from pune to satara, on NH4, when we were 65 km away from pune, engine malfunction signal started blinking, one belt had gone broken/torn.

Fiat ' on road breakdown service' vehicle, could not come. Fiat's Satara spare part shop
was closed.

Local truck mecanic arranged a truck belt, and done the car run temporarily. He showed us wear & tear marks on the belt,(should have been changed at the time of servicing).

One day,When we comlained about poor gc, they changed some suspensions arm, (Rs8 k) , problem prevailed.


Then after few days, we were travelling , approx 100 km distance was covered. We stopped at an eatery. My father noted that the rhs front wheel was hoter as compared to others.
Next day, took the car to fiat ASS, They changed something (bill 7 k,~ half of my monthly income) , but the hotness remained as it was.

Again, few days later they changed one more part,(bill again 7 k) Problem persisted.
They called senior engineer, he took a 10 km TD ,, and said it's normal for temperature to rise up to this level as the car is rhs front wheel drive.

Result-sold the car, bought wagonr, missed fiat engine/performence/space till I bought the manza.

fiat has brought 2012 Linea model with with 22 mm more GC(tv commercials) .. Fiat took 14 years to understand importance of GC on Indian road.Is it a tata effect?

In 2003, my Uno got its underbody scraped with a routine indian size hump, leading to oil sump replace ment(rs 8 k in 2003) precious time, lead me, in turn, not to drive above 50 km/hr,

Then I learnt a lesson, i.e. not to purchase /drive low g.c. Cars , so I excluded linea, octavia, fabia, h city, optra magnum, punto, civic, also soft suspension cars.

@p3t3R , I hope that most of your questions have been answered in above mentioned posts of mine from fiat and g.c.threads .
AFA , reasonability of service charges are concerned , manza fully paid service cost me 5300 Rs in year while charges mentioned about uno are from year 2002\03 , so please decide yourself.


Name one manufacturer that doesn't do it.[/QUOTE]

 

[alexddas]

Check the parking lot at Goa Airport!


Care to elaborate?


Did you experience this or just hear it. Have you checked how much Maruti charges?


Check my Alto thread. Even India's "Best" ASS has the same problem.

.
Isn't that reasonable?


Please name a cheaper diesel car.


Are you sure? I never had to wait for regular spares. Only thing I waite for was an Alternator that had to be shipped from Brazil. BTW try you luck with simple spares for a Baleno.


Name one manufacturer that doesn't do it.

Hey peter i think you forgot what we are discussing. Why fiat uno failed to capture taxi market that is what we are dicussing. Please read the posts with this in mind.

The maintenance cost discussed is at the time of the launch

Every single spare was shipped at the time of launch.

Back in kerala now all uno's run on sardarji spares(known like that as it comes from delhi and mumbai) even the dealer doing the service depend on these spares.

About GC If you own one i really don't know why that comment came from your side.

I am also a great fan of uno as you are.

 

[P3T3R]

Hey peter i think you forgot what we are discussing. Why fiat uno failed to capture taxi market that is what we are dicussing. Please read the posts with this in mind..

No I haven't forgotten. I was just replying to the points raised. Truth versus perception. In general, Fiats have not done well mainly to to perception and things that people have heard about the cars not what they have experienced.

The maintenance cost discussed is at the time of the launch

That's what I'm comparing to other cars.

Every single spare was shipped at the time of launch.

What's that supposed to mean?

Back in kerala now all uno's run on sardarji spares(known like that as it comes from delhi and mumbai) even the dealer doing the service depend on these spares.

The choice is yours. I always buy original spares.

About GC If you own one i really don't know why that comment came from your side.

That's because I never had an issue with the GC.

I am also a great fan of uno as you are.

It's the car which is good or not. Fans are everywhere. Even the Dzire has fans.