Alfa Romeo To Premier Their US Lineup At The 2013 Detroit Show?

[William Maley]

Alfa Romeo To Premier Their US Lineup At The 2013 Detroit Show?

William Maley - Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

June 23, 2011

Alfa Romeo has a long track record of making promises to return to the US, but those promises have been broken. Now, if a report from Germany's AutoBild is to be believed, Alfa Romeo will make it's first US appearance at the 2013 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

AutoBild says that five models will be shown at the show; the 4C sports car shown at Geneva will become the brand's flagship, while the midsize Giulia, compact Giulietta, subcompact MiTo and a Jeep-based crossover will also be shown.

Will this happen or will it become another broken promise? We shall see.

Source: AutoBild

[SoCalCTS]

I'll believe it when I see it. Also, who cares if Alfa comes back at all? They should just badge Alfas as Chrysler models like they are doing with American Chryslers becoming Lancias.

[Robert Hall]

I've been reading for 10 years or so that Alfa is coming back...I'll believe it when I see it. It will be nice to see the brand back, their small FWD models have more character and style than the usual FWD generics sold here IMO... I'd esp. like to see a coupe and spyder of some sort (something to replace the Brera).

[balthazar]

Can you get 'Pacer' or 'Ranger' or 'Corsair' emblems to interchange with whatever the alfa model names are? Please?

[Intrepidation]

I'll believe it when they start actually selling them. Problem is that the mainstream Alfas have gotten ugly. The 159 is an extremely handsome car especially up front, and so is the Brera, even if it isn't very good. The MiTo is handsome until you get to the nose, and Giulietta is ugly an thing. The 4C does look good though.

[Paolino]

Won't hold my breath. Alfa was "returning" when I took my state test 7 years ago and I had to read an article in Italian about it.

[bobo]

Well, who ever thought that Fiat would be back? I just don't see a compelling case for all these brands to come back.

[Robert Hall]

I'd definitely like to see more affordable Italian cars available, and would also like to see the 3 French brands come back to the US..modern European compacts/etc seem to have much more interesting designs and character than the typical Japanese & Korean generics...

Edited June 24, 2011 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[MyerShift]

The U.S. will probably be forever void of the more charismatic and "better" choices of other nations. Some free market we have. Indeed!

[Drew Dowdell]

Why come back when they don't have a full lineup yet?

[PurdueGuy]

The U.S. will probably be forever void of the more charismatic and "better" choices of other nations. Some free market we have. Indeed!

Um, foreign companies deciding it's not worth the cost to bring all of their vehicles here has nothing to do with a lack of a free market. Heck, it has everything to do with us HAVING a free market!

[SAmadei]

The U.S. will probably be forever void of the more charismatic and "better" choices of other nations. Some free market we have. Indeed!

Um, foreign companies deciding it's not worth the cost to bring all of their vehicles here has nothing to do with a lack of a free market. Heck, it has everything to do with us HAVING a free market!

How so? From Wiki:

A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts.

We obviously no longer have a 'free market' as far as automobiles go. You can't buy a Pagani... they tried, and the government felt it needed to interfere with it. You can't buy a Caprice, or the Holden zeta models because GM claims the costs to federalize it are too high. Its virtually impossible for a small company to enter the automobile market. Tesla and Fiskar have spent billions to get off the ground. Panoz, Mosler, Saleen and Shelby have to fight tons of government red tape to stay in business. According to Wiki, this is a regulated market or controlled market.

Now, I'm all for reasonable safety, quality and clean air, but the government has gone off the deep end and over regulated the automotive market and their heavy handed approach has caused most cars to be uniformly boring and has raised the bar to enter too high.

We can never have a truly free market for automobiles, but we need to take a step back from the crazy overregulation going on right now.

[Drew Dowdell]

The U.S. will probably be forever void of the more charismatic and "better" choices of other nations. Some free market we have. Indeed!

Um, foreign companies deciding it's not worth the cost to bring all of their vehicles here has nothing to do with a lack of a free market. Heck, it has everything to do with us HAVING a free market!

How so? From Wiki:

A free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. However, the term is also commonly used for markets in which economic intervention and regulation by the state is limited to tax collection, and enforcement of private ownership and contracts.

We obviously no longer have a 'free market' as far as automobiles go. You can't buy a Pagani... they tried, and the government felt it needed to interfere with it. You can't buy a Caprice, or the Holden zeta models because GM claims the costs to federalize it are too high. Its virtually impossible for a small company to enter the automobile market. Tesla and Fiskar have spent billions to get off the ground. Panoz, Mosler, Saleen and Shelby have to fight tons of government red tape to stay in business. According to Wiki, this is a regulated market or controlled market.

Now, I'm all for reasonable safety, quality and clean air, but the government has gone off the deep end and over regulated the automotive market and their heavy handed approach has caused most cars to be uniformly boring and has raised the bar to enter too high.

We can never have a truly free market for automobiles, but we need to take a step back from the crazy overregulation going on right now.

It's not over regulation or under regulation. It's different regulation. In many ways, the European standards are stricter than our own, but because the standards don't mesh well, we lose out on some interesting cars.

[A Horse With No Name]

I've been reading for 10 years or so that Alfa is coming back...I'll believe it when I see it. It will be nice to see the brand back, their small FWD models have more character and style than the usual FWD generics sold here IMO... I'd esp. like to see a coupe and spyder of some sort (something to replace the Brera).

Agreed!

[A Horse With No Name]

The U.S. will probably be forever void of the more charismatic and "better" choices of other nations. Some free market we have. Indeed!

There is no such thing as a free automotive market anywhere on the planet...

Look at Japan and the strings and loopholes they have...or Europe...or third world countries.

I am sure you could drive what you want in Somalia, but interesting car dealerships are rare there because they seem to have a rather free market in guns ansd ammo

[SAmadei]

It's not over regulation or under regulation. It's different regulation. In many ways, the European standards are stricter than our own, but because the standards don't mesh well, we lose out on some interesting cars.

How are European standards stricter than ours? Their standards allow cars much smaller than ours, and allow gas guzzlers like the Pagani. Holden Zetas? Yeah, sold in Europe, no problem.

The only regulations I can think of that Europe has that we do not (yet) are required amber rear signals and pedestrian crash safety features on the front of the car.

Sure, Europe may regulate cars harsher once you own it, but at least you can own it, assuming you can afford to put it on the road.

[Drew Dowdell]

you just pointed some of them out. Pedestrian impact standards (euro) and rear impact standards (US)

GM not bringing Zeta sedans here had nothing to do with government standards and the proof is that GM is selling Zeta sedans here today. Just because they won't sell one to you personally... don't blame the government. The address you want to complain to is:

The Office of Dan Akerson

Renaissance Center

Detroit Michigan

[SAmadei]

you just pointed some of them out. Pedestrian impact standards (euro) and rear impact standards (US)

Since when is the US in Europe?

You stated... "In many ways, the European standards are stricter than our own" but only are only providing one example. The US has a book of regulations they use to keep cars off the market.

Now, I'm sure that among Europe's various governments, there are more, but they are minor compared to our reg overload. For crying out loud the NHTSA budget is probably 10x all the other government regulatory budgets put together.

All that money wasted to dictate what we can drive.

GM not bringing Zeta sedans here had nothing to do with government standards and the proof is that GM is selling Zeta sedans here today. Just because they won't sell one to you personally... don't blame the government. The address you want to complain to is:

GM has given us a bunch of stories about why the Zeta is not being sold to the general publish. One rumor is that it is not federalized. Another is CAFE. *Ding* *Ding* There is the government meddling... or GM hiding behind it... even though we all know better that it is a smoke screen of bull$h!.

[ZL-1]

The Giulia has been postponed, AFAIK, so 2013 might be accurate.