Fiat News: Marchionne Says Alfa's Giorgio Platform Will Be Shared With Other FCA Brands

[William Maley]

The relaunch of Alfa Romeo has cost Fiat Chrysler Automobiles dearly. Speaking with analysts during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Sergio Marchionne said the relaunch cost "in excess" of 2.5 billion euros (about $2.7 billion) so far. Back in 2014, FCA said it would invest 5 billion euros through 2018 to relaunch Alfa, though the timeframe has been pushed back to 2020. Alfa Romeo has also been losing money and will continue to do so until the full benefit of the Giulia and Stelvio hit.

To help curb costs, Marchionne told analysts that Alfa's Giorgio platform will be shared with other FCA brands; primarily Dodge, Jeep, and Maserati. 

"The investment in Alfa Romeo and certainly the technical investment in the architecture was something that was designed to benefit more than Alfa. I'm happy that we have finally found clarity of thought in the extension of these architectures well beyond Alfa," said Marchionne.

Marchionne said Giorgio would underpin "the whole Maserati development beyond 2018," along with large Jeeps and the next-generation of Dodge's rear-drive models. As we have we reported previously, Giorgio will underpin the next-generation Charger and Challenger. Automotive News learned from a source that the platform will underpin the next Journey and Durango crossovers, and possibly a new midsize sedan. No information was given about Jeep, but it seems the next-generation Grand Cherokee is a safe bet.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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[Stew]

Should I put up a pretend shocked face like this is new news?

[G. David Felt]

BS, Believe it when we see it. Segio is a lying sack of Sh$t.

He took the billions out hurting the US brands to bring back his Italian Garbage Alfa and proved it was a mess as he has failed to deliver on anything he has stated.

Now the only way to save face is to then push out his Alfa crap onto the rest of the brands to try and justify his incompetence.

Face it Sergio, Alfa should have stayed Dead and Fiat could be killed and no one would shed a tear except the Italians.

"Garbage in Garbage out" a term that never fit a company so well as it does Fiat!

US should have Never let Fiat buy Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Dodge. I would have rather merged GM and Chrysler than let Fiat buy them and screw it up even worse.

[daves87rs]

This can't be good....

 

Jeep is my biggest concern.....

[G. David Felt]

10 hours ago, daves87rs said:

This can't be good....

 

Jeep is my biggest concern.....

Agree, Jeep is worth saving, yet could be destroyed at the rate Sergio is going in screwing up everything else.

[daves87rs]

14 hours ago, dfelt said:

Agree, Jeep is worth saving, yet could be destroyed at the rate Sergio is going in screwing up everything else.

 

Yep....Agree too...you can't just mix products like this and expect good results....

[Stew]

You guys do realize they are referring to the grand Cherokee, right?  A vehicle that has ALWAYS been unibody and for the current, and arguably best, generation has also ran a fully independent suspension.  The Wrangler will stay the Wrangler and they are just entering a new generation that will no doubt go on for at least the next 6 to 8 years.  I fail to see an issue besides trying to invent one.  

[G. David Felt]

2 hours ago, Stew said:

You guys do realize they are referring to the grand Cherokee, right?  A vehicle that has ALWAYS been unibody and for the current, and arguably best, generation has also ran a fully independent suspension.  The Wrangler will stay the Wrangler and they are just entering a new generation that will no doubt go on for at least the next 6 to 8 years.  I fail to see an issue besides trying to invent one.  

Alfa and Fiat have a track record of building garbage and I see no reason based on the alfa dealership here and the few that have been sold to coworkers that have had the auto in the shop more than in their own garage.

At least the old MB platform is very solid, I fear that the history will take the GC to a low that will hurt them not help them.

Sergio is considerably cutting corners trying to survive and I doubt they will offer a good unibody system that is better than the MB one.

They have much to prove about the alfa stuff.

[Stew]

1 hour ago, dfelt said:

Alfa and Fiat have a track record of building garbage and I see no reason based on the alfa dealership here and the few that have been sold to coworkers that have had the auto in the shop more than in their own garage.

At least the old MB platform is very solid, I fear that the history will take the GC to a low that will hurt them not help them.

Sergio is considerably cutting corners trying to survive and I doubt they will offer a good unibody system that is better than the MB one.

They have much to prove about the alfa stuff.

The only Alfas that have really been sold thus far are very limited pure sports cars NOT based on this platform.  The Giullia is still rolling out and I doubt your coworkers have those yet.  THis is the first vehicle on the platform BTW.  So let's lot promote gloom and doom where there is ZERO reason to at this time. 

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, Stew said:

The only Alfas that have really been sold thus far are very limited pure sports cars NOT based on this platform.  The Giullia is still rolling out and I doubt your coworkers have those yet.  THis is the first vehicle on the platform BTW.  So let's lot promote gloom and doom where there is ZERO reason to at this time. 

History and stupid ideas like expanding Jeep dealerships by 400 so they are in miles of each other tends to not lead well with most that can look at poor quality and not see positive things.

I am 99.9% of the time a Half full glass guy, but right now FCA is doing nothing to change that they are half empty and getting lower with their decisions.

[Stew]

17 hours ago, dfelt said:

History and stupid ideas like expanding Jeep dealerships by 400 so they are in miles of each other tends to not lead well with most that can look at poor quality and not see positive things.

I am 99.9% of the time a Half full glass guy, but right now FCA is doing nothing to change that they are half empty and getting lower with their decisions.

I am sorry, but the quality is nowhere near as bad as you are stating.  And jeeps sell like crazy.  While I do agree the dealer expansion is a bit optimistic to say the least........ right now,do we even have a timeframe on this?

Edited February 7, 2017 by Stew

[G. David Felt]

17 minutes ago, Stew said:

I am sorry, but the quality is nowhere near as bad as you are stating.  And jeeps sell like crazy.  While I do agree the dealer expansion is a bit optimistic to say the least........ right now,do we even have a timeframe on this?

Poor quality statement is in regards to Fiat, Alfa and in the case of Jeep the Renegade which is based on the POS Fiat. Rest of Jeep lineup I am fine with, I do worry about the new compass that is replacing the old compass/patriot. Fiat has failed to build any faith that they can engineer a quality auto.

[Stew]

3 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Poor quality statement is in regards to Fiat, Alfa and in the case of Jeep the Renegade which is based on the POS Fiat. Rest of Jeep lineup I am fine with, I do worry about the new compass that is replacing the old compass/patriot. Fiat has failed to build any faith that they can engineer a quality auto.

Besides the transmissions on 1st year Renegades can you please enlighten me to specifics?  Also some proof that the just introduce Alfa sedan on it's new platforms with new engines has actually had reliability issues/

[G. David Felt]

7 minutes ago, Stew said:

Besides the transmissions on 1st year Renegades can you please enlighten me to specifics?  Also some proof that the just introduce Alfa sedan on it's new platforms with new engines has actually had reliability issues/

Jeep Renegade are all over the dealership lots with low miles. Like the fiats buyers seem to not hold onto them. This starts the question of why would you have so many with low miles, low selling prices on used lots.

http://www.truedelta.com/Jeep-Renegade/reliability-1289

Data is limited, but this little Jeep is just a rebadged Fiat 500 series.

Reviews also tend to have the yellow flag of caution.

http://www.truedelta.com/Jeep-Renegade/car-reviews-M203

Many of us here were taken or smitten with this little auto at first. Yet if you have test drove one and sat in one, you start to see many things from fit n finish to the over all tactile feel. This is an auto I could not recommend to family, friends or an acquaintance.

Alfa, I go by the sparse few that are here in washington state and the couple that are owned by others in my company that have had the auto in the shop more than at their home.

My opinion, Fiat / Alfa is still garbage just like they were back in the 70's when I was around them. Jeep Renegade sadly had to deal with it's origins which are poor to begin with.

My personal opinion.

[Stew]

It is a platform mate for the 500x, not the regular 500.  And per your link.

 

The Jeep Renegade is essentially a Fiat underneath, and Fiats haven't been earning good marks in our quarterly car reliability survey. The ZF nine-speed automatic transmission used in the Renegade is also used in various Chrysler and Acura models, and many owners of those cars haven't been happy with it. On top of this, it hasn't yet been a year since the Renegade launched. So it should not come as a surprise that the limited amount of reliability data we have so far for the Renegade suggests worse-than-average (but not awful) reliability. While this doesn't constitute a red flag, a yellow flag is warranted. Buyers who expect virtually no repairs during the first few years of ownership, as some do, should probably await more solid reliability stats for the Renegade or buy something else. The Honda HR-V similarly seems to be suffering from some first-year niggles. We don't have reliability data for the Chevrolet Trax, but the modest amount we have for the closely related Buick Encore suggests that it has been very reliable. The Subaru Crosstrek has an excellent reliability record in our survey.

full 2016 Jeep Renegade review

 

Exactly what i said.  9 speed auto issues for the first year models.  Nothing more, nothing less.