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Alfa Romeo maps out Sales Plan for the United States

Pagandi J. — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:12:56 +0000

In a press interview, Fiat’s head honcho Sergio Marchionne shared his U.S. sales plans for the Alfa brand. In line with Marchionne’s goal to make Alfa a “full-line premium carmaker,” he revealed that an full line-up of Alfas with be launched in the U.S. in the latter part of 2012.

Marchionne mentioned a brand new Chrysler-built small SUV will be the first batch of Alfas that will be sold in the US along with the new Guilia saloon and estate models. In late 2011, five brand new Guilia models will be launched in Europe to replace the 159 executive car model while the Guiletta-based small SUVs will launch export in Europe by 2012. Another five-door Mito version will be exported to the US by 2013 in sync with its launch in Europe.

A rear-drive two-seater roadster is said to start production in 2013 in the U.S. with the assembly plant yet to be announced. In 2014, a larger Jeep Liberty-based SUV will be produced in the U.S. under Chrysler and will be launched in Europe as well. The remodeled Guiletta hatchback will also make its debut in 2014.

Fiat’s Marchionne mentioned that the Alfa brand is expected to sell 85,000 units by 2014 in the U.S. This goal will help the brand reach its yearly international sales of 500,000 units. A smashing 100,000 Alfa units were sold in 2009. About 100 of these units were sold through their U.S. dealerships with Maserati.

Alfa Romeo may have a new SUV derived from Jeep’s 2011 Grand Cherokee

Lizzie — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:18:14 +0000

Chrysler has an established wide network in North America but does not have a good product base to offer its partners in Fiat. They may have the V6 engine of the Pentastar or the LX of the Chrysler 300 but the emission regulations combined with the struggling economy have made these products lost their luster.

A bright future though is seen on the 2011 Grand Cherokee of the Jeep line up. This vehicle was developed with their former partner, Daimler, and shares a lot of characteristics with the next generation of ML Class SUV from Mercedes Benz.

The executives from Fiat are contemplating on using the Jeep platform to develop a premium SUV under the Alfa Romeo badge. The vehicle is expected to compete with the likes of Audi Q7, Touareg from Volkswagen, and the BMW X5 in their market in North America.

They are looking at European sales performance of the Grand Cherokee and it is quite impressive. Fiat is planning to duplicate this success in the North American market with the new SUV from Alfa Romeo.

Experts are expecting that the SUV donning the Alfa Romeo colors will not have the off road capabilities of the Grand Cherokee. It may also not be equipped with the HEMI V8 engine but have the Pentastar V6 or a diesel variant.

The SUV from Alfa Romeo is expected to give the brand some flesh in the US market to add to the very limited 8C Competizione it will deliver to the consumers.

Alfa Romeo is to be sold as re-branded Dodge models in Europe

Lizzie — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 01:21:19 +0000

Alfa Romeo’s plans in the United States were revealed last week as well the growing support over the new design proposed by the car company. Today, however, we received news about several cars taking the other route pass the Atlantic towards Europe. Over there, the Alfa Romeo is going to sell re-branded Dodge models.

Fiat and Chrysler have also gone a switch in branding; however the re-branding of Dodge could possibly be the most crucial for the United States. If re-vamped Dodge vehicles can meet the needs of Alfa Romeo, then this move could help save U.S. production and boost supply.

According to a report published in Auto Car, Marchioone gives much importance to the merge of both Dodge and Alfa Romeo brands. Dodge is the ultimate muscle car of the United States while Alfa Romeo its European counterpart.

When both models are sold side by side, Alfa Romeo could overpower Dodge. Therefore it is assumed that Marchionne is considering to sell the Alfa Romeo models that are in the U.S. as Dodges.

Several reports have also assumed that Fiat vehicles might be sold in the U.S. as re-branded Alfa Romeo since the Fiat cars were not so well-accepted during their previous round in the country.

Going back to the Dodges to be sold in Europe as muscle cars, fans and critics can stop imaging how a fusion of the Alfa Romeo and Dodge Viper would look like. Just the same, Fiat was given the reins to lead the Viper business. Compared to the former, the latter looks like a fruitful partnership.