Alfa Romeo to return to the USA.

[Kowalski]

FIAT CEO Sergio Marchionne confirms Alfa Romeo's return to the USA
04.05.2006


The 159 will be the first Alfa to arrive in USA.

During yesterday's conference call to announce Fiat's first quarter financial results, CEO Sergio Marchionne confirmed that Alfa Romeo is gearing up for an imminent return to the USA.

Fiat's Alfa Romeo division has long eyed a full-scale return to the hugely lucrative United States market which it withdrew from more than a decade ago, but several ambitious target dates in recent years have had to be postponed. However with a new model range that has been engineered from the outset to meet stringent US crash and safety regulations Fiat CEO Marchionne has been putting a careful timetable in place to realise this ambition.

Firmly cementing the new strategic relationship between Fiat's Maserati and Alfa Romeo brands will be that Alfa Romeo's model range will be distributed through the US-based Maserati dealer network, which itself over the last year, has been separated from its previous union with Ferrari. Maserati CEO Karl-Heinz Kalbfell who has been working on the long-term future of the two Fiat Auto brands as one of his roles, has been drawing up fresh plans along with James Selwa, the former Rolls-Royce North America CEO who Kalbfell brought in to take charge of Maserati North America once it was removed from Maranello's control and returned to the Fiat Auto fold. No timetable has been laid out yet, but it is expected it could come as early as late next year.

Launch models are likely to comprise of the evocative members of Alfa Romeo's new 'breed' of sports models: the Alfa 159, Brera and Spider. Also into the mix is likely to be added the 8c Competizione with a chunk of the 500-unit production run of this 'halo' model scheduled for commercialisation next year heading across the Atlantic. The 8c Competizione coupé is itself an excellent example of the new partnership between Alfa Romeo and Maserati as it will be based on the latter's forthcoming Coupé/Spyder architecture and will incorporate its new 4.7-litre V8 engine.

Meanwhile the Italian ULIM union was quick to express its full support for the decision to return to North America. "The fact that Alfa Romeo is returning to the US market is good news for the Fiat Group, and especially for the factory at Pomigliano d'Arco, Naples, where the production of models 147 and 159 is increasing. When Italian models are successful abroad, it's something to be proud of," UILM General-Secretary Antonino Ragazzi told the AGI news agency yesterday. "The Fiat factory of Pomigliano is hiring more and more young workers, to boost production and employment."

Source: Italianspeed


The 8C Competizione will find its way to the production line.

[Redcoat]

a 159 - Brera - Spider - 8c halo car launch lineup could do very well for them.

[91z4me]

When these do come over remember that the $4 Billion that Fiat got from GM is mostly responsible for this. Also they will likely be using GM powertrains, I remember that the N* was a part of the aggreement.

[GMMediumDutyMQ]

Bring the 8C convertible here, and my interest in Kappa dies almost immediately...

Such a gorgeous car.

[Proetus]

Alfa scored dead last in JD Power reliability ranking last year.

[Bravada]

Well, they are still in the "worst 10" in the Warranty Direct ranking, but still better than e.g. Subaru, Jaguar or Porsche:

http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/to...28339010848601

I find Warranty Direct much more informative, as they don't ask people whether they are satisfied with their cars (like JD Power - funny enough, they then try to peddle the results as "reliability ranking"), but rather base their data on the claims placed on the vehicles covered by their post-manufacturer-warranty policies. This means that the results there are mostly for 3yr+ vehicles.

Alfa's results still include some really disastrous cars from the past, like the 145/6, but a look at the Fiat result shows that it is close to getting to the Top 10 - despite quite high repair costs, which means that the frequency of a breakdowns/repairs (these two are the main factors making up the Reliability Index) is remarkably low. So, I think Alfa will continue to improve too.

What many people don't know is that Alfa's newest models, the 159 and Brera, are in fact based on the Epsilon and use modified GM petrol engines.

[mrmemo]

For being a sedan, that 159 looks pretty mean. Off topic, I don't really like sedans.

[King Riffle]

Yes! yes yes yes yes!!!!!

Anyone know what the 159 will start at in USD?

[Quickening]