The Rio marks Premier’s comeback in the passenger car segment after many years. The last passenger cars which Premier sold in India were the Fiat range - the Uno and Siena, after which Fiat set up its current base in Ranjangaon and parted from Premier. But just before the Fiat tie-up, Premier had a JV with Peugeot and although the 309 was a fairly competent car, it never really set the sales charts on fire and eventually went off the market. A few years ago, Premier made an entry into the Light Commercial Vehicle segment with its mini pick-up Roadstar and commercial van Sigma (both based on older Mitsubishi designs) which came from a tie-up with CMC Taiwan. Having taken a concious step to being in the passenger car business, but not wanting to be part of the overcrowded hatchback segment, Premier decided to enter a niche and the RiO SUV will be the first of its kind in the Indian market, due to its compact size.