Chennai, January 7: Fiat SpA considers India an important part of itsglobalisation strategy, said the company's CEO Paolo Cantarella. He was hereto receive honourary degree conferred on him by Anna University. Fiat, headded, would continue to focus on giving Indians taste of the `first cycleof motoring' by concentrating on entry-level models. The company has so farcommitted $500 million investment in India and further investment will bebased entirely on future growth in market.Cantarella also said that growth in Indian automobile segment would comefrom cars and commercial vehicles but even this, he cautioned, was directlyrelated to the development of infrastructure. He came out strongly againstallowing import of second hand cars into India. The Government should lookat ways and means to draw investments into industries and create more jobsbut second hand car imports, on the other hand, would result in hardcurrency flowing out of India, he said.
Fiat, Cantarella said, had interest in India spanning many sectors. It hasFiat Auto and Ind Auto for cars, Iveco-Ashok Leyland joint venture forcommercial vehicles, Magneti Marelli for components, New Holland and CASEfor tractors and construction equipment, TEKSID for foundries, Comau forautomation and FISAF for finance.
He also said that India would definitely be a country which would beconsidered very seriously when Fiat decides to globalise the operations ofits software business CIAO WEB. Presently, the company is in the process ofsetting up a strong base in Italy, he added.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.