Premier Ltd, Which is a Pune based automobile firm involved in manufacturing of the Rio SUV, is about to get diesel engines from the Fiat India Automobiles. For now, the Rio is to get a MultiJet 1.3-liter diesel engine which will pump out 75 bhp of power. This is being mentioned here because of its relevancy to the topic that Fiat India is the official supplier of the same engine to the Maruti Suzuki India as well. However, the contract is still to be signed between the Premier and Fiat, the number of engines, which will be supplied from Fiat to Premier as well as the duration of this particular contract, will be disclosed sometime next month.
The small car in which most of us moved around in the 80’s, the Padmini was also the product of Premier. This car was manufactured from 1964 to 2000, in the early 90’s the firm entered with French auto giant Peugeot into a joint venture but later from 2004 the firm Premier has been running its operation separately. The compact SUV Rio marked the re-entry of Premier in the segment of passenger cars. Fiat has signed a contract of three year in January with Maruti Suzuki India which is nation’s largest car manufacturer firm right now. Vide this contract Maruti Suzuki India will receive a supply of one lakh diesel engine units per annum from Fiat for a period of three years consecutively. All the diesel engines meant for the supply to Premier Ltd and Maruti Suzuki India will be manufactured at the Fiat’s Ranjangaon manufacturing plant in the state of Maharashtra.
The Fiat firm has shown a desire for expanding its sales figures and is also contemplating to increase the volume of its exclusive dealerships from the present two to twenty-five in twenty different locations by the end of this year. But there is a catch to it; those dealers who are running joint showrooms with Tata Motors can only open these showrooms which are distinguished in the exclusive category by the firm. The firm is supposed to declare the strategy for its product promotion and details of its network by the end of April 2012.