Fiat Palio Stile Sports — Delivery Woes

iam one of the most ardent and passionate follower of the fiat brand. an (ex) fiat car owner. and a pure fiat loyalist!! though i have started this mail on a positive note, i would like to steer it to the other end.

i had owned a fiat palio for over 6 years, and had driven for over 120, 000kms. was so impressed and happy about the car and the very experience of owning a fiat brand, that i recently booked another fiat palio sport inspite of stiff 'resistance' and jibes from friends, colleagues and relatives. inspite of warnings that "they havent changed" yet, but my passion and love for the brand made me think otherwise. and thus started my heartburns, woes and bad or rather horrible experiences with the touchpoints of fiat brand, namely the dealer (concorde motors, mumbai) and the marketing team from tata motors.

i had booked this car way back on the 23rd feb 2009 and was assured delivery in 2-3 weeks time. accordingly i paid the booking amount and even the stipulated 3/4ths the amount of the car. but surprise!! till date nobody (neither from the dealer's side nor from the TATA MOTORS marketing) can confirm when the car would be delivered to me.

apart from paying two EMIs for the loan, i have been shifting my personal travel plans in anticipation of taking delivery of the car. i have been constantly following up with the dealer and i have been getting all kinds of responses which make me feel bad for two reasons - obviously because my car is being delayed forever. the other reason being how the fiat brand is being stomped at. and i have got some of the bizzarest reasons, some of them being:

- the car is not being produced. - if it was not being produced, then why did the dealer take the booking?!
- there is no red paint!! are we talking of some down-the-road garage or is it THE italian auto giant called FIAT we are talking about?
- the evergreen reason being we dont know what fiat is doing!! excuse me?!! is FIAT India processes in such a mess that their dealers dont have a clue or is Concorde motors in such a mess that they havent got their act together? too much of a slip between the cup and lip!!

and they are even ready to return the money!! in this age of economic downturn and recession, when a customer falls into your lap, you are trying to shoo him away?!

its extremely sad that fiat india inspite of having some real good products, dont seem to be keen on selling it. or is fiat india so possessive about their products and that they arent keen on sharing it?! :)

a perfect case of how to kill the enthusiasm of driving a brand new car.