Alfa Romeo wants to focus on North America, Europe next in line
Fiat wants to focus on the relaunch for the Alfa Romeo line in North America before they crawl back up the European market to restore their credibility as a brand. This was the statement of CEO Sergio Marchionne who also shared that the task at hand for Alfa Romeo is the toughest among his list of goals upon taking the helm at Fiat seven years ago.
Alfa Romeo is expected to tap an executive to spearhead its operations in the United States before the end of the year prior to their planned relaunch in 2013. Alfa Romeo exited the US market back in 1995 but market tests done recently showed positive results for the brand. The market pulse have convinced the management of Alfa to first focus on North America before crawling back into Europe.
Marchionne pointed out that the desirability indications of the Alfa Romeo as a brand is still positive despite being absent in the market for quite some time now. Alfa is still among the well known car brands across the globe so the company wants to take advantage of the eagerness of the market.
The mother company foresees Alfa Romeo to deliver around 400,000 units annually to its global consumers as soon as 2014. The target is quite on the ambitious side as the sales reports reflect an average of about 150,000 per year since the ’80s.
In North America, Fiat sees Alfa Romeo to roll out 85,000 vehicles by 2014 which the CEO considers as a realistic goal.
The relaunch of Alfa Romeo will have the following lineup up for grabs the rear drive compact Alfa Romeo 4C and the SUV which was developed in collaboration with Jeep. The role of the 4C in the US relaunch is vital as it rekindles the love of the market for the Alfa Spider made famous by the film The Graduate that showed in the 1960s.
Alfa Romeo will also have the 6C during the 2014 relaunch of the brand. This will be the flagship saloon lifting its DNA from the platform of the Chrysler 300. It will have the tamer version of the V63.6L Pentastar powerplant under its hood. The lineup will also include a new version of the Spider, the 5-door Mito.
Fiat is also expanding its network to around 150 dealerships before the end of the year.
Tags: Alfa Romeo, Alfa Romeo 4C, Chrysler 300, Fiat
Alfa Romeo adds MultiAir system to Mito Hatch, increases Fuel Efficiency
Fiat is well-know for being on the forefront of developing diesel technologies but it still wants to conquer new grounds by adding fuel saving technology to petrol engines. Fiat will use the MultiAir system in the Mito Hatch from Alfa Romeo which is soon to debut in Europe.
MultiAir power plants is said to generate 10% more power and 15% more torque. Aside from these, car owners can also save about 10% more fuel and lower significantly their emissions.
The Mito 1.4L hatch will be the guinea pig for the MultiAir technology. This variant is will be released with engine options of 170hp, 135hp, or 105hp.
The MultiAir system relies on the breakthrough design of the electro-hydraulic valve which makes saving more fuel and decreasing emission possible. The combustion of the petrol engine and its ability to conserve fuel is dependent on the quality of the air charges in the cylinders.
Tags: Alfa Romeo, Alfa Romeo Mi.To, Fiat, Fuel Efficiency
