Alfa Romeo to Open US Plant

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YSSMAN

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The Proof is in the Pudding!

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Autoblog
Alfa Romeo isn't kidding around about its return to the US market: Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne revealed that Alfa is planning to open a factory in the United States.

Citing the drop in the US dollar against the Euro as a principal motivating factor, Marchionne said that manufacturing cars in America was vital to the profitability of Alfa's stateside venture. The Canadian-Italian industrialist anticipated that Alfa would only begin making a profit after three or four years in the US.

This won't be the first time a Fiat division has manufactured in the United States. In 1909 the Italian automaker inaugurated a plant in Poughkeepsie in upstate New York which it closed a decade later.

Meanwhile, industry sources indicate that Alfa's main factory at Pomigliano d'Arco in southern Italy will close for two months beginning in January as a last-ditch effort to get Alfa Romeo build quality up to spec or else face complete closure.
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Yay! Now lets hope they get around to buying an old factory here in Michigan and we screw together a few of them...
 
Ladies and gentlemen, the US domestic market just got even sexier. That's good news! More jobs here! 👍

This is total heresy, but: I'd love to see them enter a car in NASCRAP. Just to piss off the inbred, ignorant anti Toyota people even more. That and I'd love to hear the drivers pronounce Alfa Romeo. "Yep, the TacobellSnaponnumberthirtyeightAlfaRomeeoh was just awesome today." :dopey:

Almost nothing sounds better than an Italian V8 at full throttle...
 
This means they're DEAD SERIOUS about the U.S. I just hope they're not looking for huge mainstream sales numbers, but, then again, that's FIAT's job.

I'll tell ya what, though, If there is a NASCAR (and I'm a bit put off by the NASCRAP thing, though, I grant, it's not as good as it was in the early '90s, let's leave it at that, shall we?) Alfa, it wouldn't sound italian. twin cams not allowed. pushrods only.
 
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Say goodbye Gti. ;)

Awesome looking car, hopefully it runs as fast as it looks. Hopefully it will cost half as much as it looks. :ouch:
In any case, this is a welcome addition to the US market. :cheers:
 
They'll probably end up pumping out overpriced boring cars, a la Maserati's US tour.
 
This is great news. Looks like they will be making quite a return after all. I would just hope that they wait a few years after the first car comes over here so they can get a portion of the market before they start pumping out cars that will just sit on lots. I wonder what their dealer network is going to look like.

High-Test
This is total heresy, but: I'd love to see them enter a car in NASCRAP. Just to piss off the inbred, ignorant anti Toyota people even more. That and I'd love to hear the drivers pronounce Alfa Romeo. "Yep, the TacobellSnaponnumberthirtyeightAlfaRomeeoh was just awesome today." :dopey:

Almost nothing sounds better than an Italian V8 at full throttle...
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You do realize that an Alfa in NASCRAP would be nothing more than every other car in the series with a few fancy stickers tacked on, right?
 
philly cheese
This is great news. Looks like they will be making quite a return after all. I would just hope that they wait a few years after the first car comes over here so they can get a portion of the market before they start pumping out cars that will just sit on lots. I wonder what their dealer network is going to look like.



You do realize that an Alfa in NASCRAP would be nothing more than every other car in the series with a few fancy stickers tacked on, right?
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Yeah. I realize that. It was just a heretical thought. I hope they succeed here, but most of the US population probably doesn't know what an Alfa Romeo is. Those that do most likely have only seen a 164. Now we just have to wait for Citroën.
 
Awsome. Even if they are slightly over priced some of us living in America can finally become true petrol heads*! :D

*-TopGear reference
 
That's awesome.
Over the summer I was over there and those cars look awesome.
I don't remember the name of a model but it was an hatchback with quad huge tips.
Roar'ed like hell too, anybody know what I'm talking about?
 
philly cheese
I bet Peugeot sends over something first. Probably a Renault.
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Peugeot owns Citroen, not Renault. Renault, on the other hand, owns Nissan.

So we're getting Renaults...in a way. (Look at the Versa, and you'll kinda see what I mean.)
 
Jim Prower
So we're getting Renaults...in a way. (Look at the Versa, and you'll kinda see what I mean.)
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I saw that one a long time ago. The first thing that came to my mind when I first saw the Versa was Renault. I almost asked the Nissan people about it.

Back to topic (going back to High Test)......

That's why Alfa will probably have to wait a while before they want to open a factory here. Nobody knows about them. And it will take a while before people do.
 
Well, I guess that just about takes care of any doubt that Alfa is really coming here... :)
 
philly cheese
That's why Alfa will probably have to wait a while before they want to open a factory here. Nobody knows about them. And it will take a while before people do.
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The first Alfas are supposed to be showing up sometime in 2008 at your local Maserati/Ferrari dealer with an eventual Alfa network growing out from that. However, I'd be more apt to thinking that without FIAT models available (ie, Panda and 500), the profitability and chance for overall success for Alfa as a brand seems to shrink just a bit.
 
YSSMAN
The first Alfas are supposed to be showing up sometime in 2008 at your local Maserati/Ferrari dealer with an eventual Alfa network growing out from that. However, I'd be more apt to thinking that without FIAT models available (ie, Panda and 500), the profitability and chance for overall success for Alfa as a brand seems to shrink just a bit.
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It's pretty expensive to make a dealer network like we would be talking with Alfa. Surely they will eventually want to have their own dealers, but even BMW wasn't able to create a decent network for MINI just by adding on to BMW shops. They are probably going to want one in every major US city, and that is expensive to do.

And I would put Alfa as a premium brand. A fuller dealer network would make much more sense with the bulk sales from FIAT included, but I think that Alfa can probably sell just fine without the lesser cars available. Companies like Jaguar, Mercedes and a few others are doing all right without a brand selling right below them.
 
Problem is that Alfa's main competitors here won't be Jaguar and Mercedes, but Saab and Volvo, and perhaps the lower end of Audi and the upper end of VW. Primairly for lack of a FR luxury platform, aside from the 8C.

and they won't have any Alfa dealers in Central IL, since we have no Ferrari or Maser dealers. I'd hate to have to go to the Suburbs to get my Alfa serviced.
 
Casio
The problem is that Alfa's main competitors are better than them.
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Depends on what you look for in a car. Most people that would be able to afford them and open-minded enough to check them out, are pretty flamboyant I think. It's a nice alternative to an Audi, VW or BMW. My yuppie brother wouldn't be caught dead driving one though, so I see your point. But car enthusiasts are certain to welcome them here. I think a lot of people here will be sold on the looks of Alfas as well.

I agree with Div is back, hehehhehe.
 
I just think they've always been too expensive for what they are, they barely sell any of them down here in Oz either. For example: The base 147 with it's fairly slow and not at all that frugal 148hp engine, chips in at $35,990 add Metallic Paint(Which you'd want) and you've got almost a $37,000 car which isn't fast, sporty, that that luxurious (Doesn't even have leather).

A VW Golf GTI starts at ~$38k, and if you had leather to your Alfa you're only about a grand away from a Renault Megane RS 225 (With standard leather, and heaps of other stuff). It's no contest.
 
Casio
The problem is that Alfa's main competitors are better than them.
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I'd bet that it depends more on how things are priced and how well the cars perform before we can say that the cars are absolutely better. Their main competitors like others have said will likely be Saabs and Volvos, maybe low-lying BMW and Mercedes products, as well as higher-leveled Volkswagens and Acuras. Its an odd little grouping, but I'd assume that with a bit of flair and soul (what Alfa is known for), they may do quite well.
 
Casio
A VW Golf GTI starts at ~$38k, and if you had leather to your Alfa you're only about a grand away from a Renault Megane RS 225 (With standard leather, and heaps of other stuff). It's no contest.
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If this car starts less than a GTI, I think the car will do well. GTI's start at, what, $21k to $23k? Add leather and you are up another grand or two. You are still at a great deal. That puts the 147 at probably a little under $20k. That is territory for domestic cars and Volkswagens. And I'm sure Alfa can build a car better than Ford or Chrysler, and VWs reliability and such aren't all that hard to beat.
 
If the 147 is $20k I will sell everything I own to buy one. :drool: Assuming the USA gets it.
 
We're slated to get the 8C, 159 and Brera so far. My guess is that they may leave some niches open for FIATs if they eventually decide to import a few.
 
That's a possibility, But...I still see some crossing between the 147 and Brera. The Brera's roughly Golf/C30 sized, right?
 
The Brera is within 2 inches of the Golf with wheelbase but a good 8 inches longer overall. It looks like it's a few hundred pounds heavier but both engines are far more powerful than their VW counterparts. The Alfa V-6 is 60 hp more powerful than the 2.0T and the I-4 has a good 35 over the standard bunny.
 
Okay, I guess you've got a point, there, that it's bigger and more powerful (Till we hit the R32), but I still think that's what most folks will compare it to 'round here. How much smaller is the 147 anyway?
 

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