Istanbul: Fiat of Italy has decided to turn India into a manufacturing hub for the right-hand drive versions of its Linea sedan. The Tata-Fiat combine, which made the announcement at the global launch of the car here, will start manufacturing and retailing of the car in India by mid-2008 from its Ranjangaon facility in Maharashtra.

The plant with a capacity to make one-lakh vehicles went on stream earlier last month, when it began producing the Fiat Palio Stile. The Linea model manufactured in the facility will be exported to right-hand drive markets such as South Africa and Australia.

Linea was globally launched with two petrol and two diesel engine versions. The petrol versions will come with a 1.4-litre, 100 bhp, and a 1.4-litre 120 bhp turbocharged mill, while the diesel versions include 1.3 multijet VGT diesel engine in 90 bhp tune, and an automatic gearbox variant. A variant of the multijet diesel engine currently powers the Maruti Suzuki Swift, with the engines being assembled at Maruti's facility at Manesar. The car will compete with Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Skoda Octavia, Linea will be positioned between the upper C-segment and the entry D-segment sedans.