Jump to content
Create New...
  • William Maley
    William Maley

    Alfa Romeo Begins Their $6 Billion Plan

      Alfa Romeo's Big Gamble Begins

    With the debut of the Alfa Romeo Giulia last week, Alfa Romeo has begun a product onslaught that will cost around $6 billion and challenge the likes of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.

     

    Automotive News reports that Alfa Romeo is planning to have three models by the end of 2017, and another five the following year. This is part of plan to overhaul Alfa Romeo and increase sales from 70,000 vehicles last year to 400,000 by 2018. 150,000 sales are expected to come from North America.

     

    Alongside the Giuila, there will be flagship sedan and a midsize SUV to arrive by 2017. 2018 will see a second SUV, midsize coupe, a speciality vehicle, and two compact models.

     

    But there are a number of problems which could derail this plan. For starters, many believe Alfa Romeo's sales goal is bitting off more than they can chew. IHS Automotive forecasts that the brand will sell around 216,000 vehicles in 2018. There's also the worry of more delays. Suppliers tell Automotive News that production of the Giulia could be pushed back to the end of year, with sales in Europe delayed to next March. A source reports that the company is still having problems with NVH levels.

     

    Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

    User Feedback

    Recommended Comments

    Alfa plans to go from 70,000 sales to 400,000 sales in 3 years?  Is it April Fool's day?

     

    I can see them taking the Maserati Ghibli (which doesn't sell) and turning that into a flagship sedan for Alfa, turn the Cherokee into an SUV, I think them or Fiat is going to use some Miata tooling for a roadster.  But I don't think that is going to get them anywhere.  I don't really see Alfa Romeo as much of a luxury brand anyway, more like a Buick or Chrysler level brand, Lincoln at best, but in Europe.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Actually the Ghibli is doing rather well for a brand that essentially didn't exist in the US 3 years ago playing in a segment with relatively low volumes. 

     

    Edit: Looking it up, they sell somewhere around 750 Ghiblis a month.  Like I said, not too bad for the segment it plays in. A little more than double the sales of the 6-series with only a $5k discount over the BMW.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Maserati has that mafia hitman sort of look to it, but I wonder how long they'll last.  The Quatroporte has never really gotten any traction against the S-class or Panamera.  The Gran Turismo looks cool, but the AMG GT is faster, newer, more reliable, etc.   There was probably some pent up demand for people that wanted an Italian car, just like how the Fiat 500 at first sold, then it cooled off.

     

    The American market likes crossovers and trucks, not exactly Alfa territory.  Look how Jaguar struggles since they have sports cars and sedans only.  Even the home team Cadillac is struggling to move ATS and CTS, the Alfas will probably cost more with half the reliability, and less name recognition.  I don't see them selling anywhere near 150,000 cars a year in North America.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    Maserati has that mafia hitman sort of look to it, but I wonder how long they'll last.  The Quatroporte has never really gotten any traction against the S-class or Panamera.  The Gran Turismo looks cool, but the AMG GT is faster, newer, more reliable, etc.   There was probably some pent up demand for people that wanted an Italian car, just like how the Fiat 500 at first sold, then it cooled off.

     

    The American market likes crossovers and trucks, not exactly Alfa territory.  Look how Jaguar struggles since they have sports cars and sedans only.  Even the home team Cadillac is struggling to move ATS and CTS, the Alfas will probably cost more with half the reliability, and less name recognition.  I don't see them selling anywhere near 150,000 cars a year in North America.

     

    It really depends on how they position themselves price wise. If the new Giulia roughly matches the 3-series in price, and they bring a 5-series competitor out, I think they have a chance.  Alfa has three distinct advantages over Cadillac in this segment.  Roughly zero people in the target segment have seen one before so there is the "Brand New! Gotta Have!" factor there, there is no brand baggage in the US, and it is "Euro" which means "More Gooder!" to the general populace.

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    I get all that Drew.. but my only question is why not simply have  Maserati pull this duty over bringing back Alfa? It historically has been a $h!ty brand here in the U.S. Kicked out of our market a coupla times in the past. 

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites

    I get all that Drew.. but my only question is why not simply have  Maserati pull this duty over bringing back Alfa? It historically has been a $h!ty brand here in the U.S. Kicked out of our market a coupla times in the past. 

     

    So has Maz.   I think they are trying to keep Maserati more high end.  The Ghibli with its $65k starting price is likely to be the cheapest model in their lineup.  They seem content to be a small volume ultra premium brand.  They even bring Italian spokeswomen/supermodels to the "local yokal hyuck hyuck"** auto journalist drive events and position themselves away from the other FCA cars to drive home their elite status.

     

    Alfa can play in cheaper waters. 

    Link to comment
    Share on other sites



    Join the conversation

    You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
    Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

    Guest
    Add a comment...

    ×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

      Only 75 emoji are allowed.

    ×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

    ×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

    ×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • google-news-icon.png



  • google-news-icon.png

  • Subscribe to Cheers & Gears

    Cheers and Gears Logo

    Since 2001 we've brought you real content and honest opinions, not AI-generated stuff with no feeling or opinions influenced by the manufacturers.

    Please consider subscribing. Subscriptions can be as little as $1.75 a month, and a paid subscription drops most ads.*
     

    You can view subscription options here.

    *a very limited number of ads contain special coupon deals for our members and will show

  • Similar Content

  • Posts

    • I am STILL waiting for everybody and his brother to pull a "Im NEVER gonna drive a piece of shyte Toyota ever again"  like they did with GM, Ford and Chrysler.  But then again, Americans DID vote for Trump a SECOND time.... And Canadians WILL vote for Polievre...  Im asking too much.
    • I didnt click on @A Horse With No Name facebook link because: 1. Facebook. I try to avoid Facebook as much as possible. Not hard to do anymore. Hope it dies sson though. I digress. Ill save THAT rant for another day. I think Ill start another Toyota hatred rant in the coming days instead... 2. I sooooo much hate Toyota, that I cant even bring myself to celebrate over Toyota problem stories because of the hatred being soooooo strong that even I try to avoid ANYTHING Toyota related.   (I do like some vehicles they produce as a disclaimer) But...I did listen to this one   Alls I got to say is...Toyota NEVER even HAD that reliabilty thing EVEN in the 1990s as that video is saying as the engine sludge thing HAPPENED in the late 1990s.  And even THEN, Toyota blamed the consumer...  So blaming the consumer is NOTHING new to Toyota. But the video is bang on!!! And as I was youtubing googling Toyota to retrieve that video above...I ran into Scotty Kilmore.   And he JUST released this video     Not gonna watch these videos, so I do NOT know of he has a clickbait title, but even Scotty has just acknowledged Toyota boo boos.    I have watched Scotty like 4 or 5 videos 5 years ago or something like that.  But Ill repeat, Toyota NEVER had this mythical relkiabilty thing. Some cars were built like tanks from them. Some cars are STILL built like gtanks from them. But they have had they SAME amount, but probably MORE shytty cars failing then any OTHER OEM...   But hey...  The Toyota kool-aid was some delicious shyte back in the day. Glad I NEVER drank it though.  But if Scotty is TRULY dissing Toyota's reliability, it MUST be a very REAL thing. But it ALWAYS HAD been a thing.  Oh well...
    • @G. David Felt  is such a lazy ass bum, isnt he? He sleeps all day that  &@#%*!@$  bum!!!       We arent supposed to speak about Toyota problems.  You'll be called an @$$hole, be questioned of your ancestry and citizenship...   
  • Who's Online (See full list)

    • There are no registered users currently online
  • My Clubs

×
×
  • Create New...

Hey there, we noticed you're using an ad-blocker. We're a small site that is supported by ads or subscriptions. We rely on these to pay for server costs and vehicle reviews.  Please consider whitelisting us in your ad-blocker, or if you really like what you see, you can pick up one of our subscriptions for just $1.75 a month or $15 a year. It may not seem like a lot, but it goes a long way to help support real, honest content, that isn't generated by an AI bot.

See you out there.

Drew
Editor-in-Chief

Write what you are looking for and press enter or click the search icon to begin your search