Alfa Romeo delays: here is the explanation

Ok so I got this from a very reliable source yesterday. If this info is not news, my apologies but I haven't read it anywhere else.

Marchionne keeps delaying Alfa because there is an internal war within the Fiat group regarding the distribution of Alfa Romeo in North America.

Maserati claims it should get the Alfa because it's a higher-priced, higher-end car that fits better in the Maserati market than sitting in a showroom next to a 15,000$ Fiat. Plus, Maserati is planning to develop into a major player for daily drivers in order to compete with the Cadillac-Infiniti-Lexus, etc... market.

Fiat claims it already has the network to make the sales within the Chrysler-Fiat dealerships and they need something other than the 500 to diversify what they can offer their customers.

Both sides have very legitimate arguments and Marchionne has a big dilemma:

-Give Alfas to Fiat dealers, generate some buzz and increase the sales figures thus making him and the Chrysler acquisition look good (bet he gets a solid bonus out of it as well)

-Give Alfas to Maserati and help develop that brand into a real player in the North American market. Plus, they could probably get away with sticking a higher price on an Alfa if it's sold via a prestigious dealer like Maserati than they can in a Chrysler-Fiat dealer.

Marchionne was leaning heavily towards giving it to Fiat and he has answered Maserati by telling them: "How can we make the return of Alfa succeed with only 43 Maserati dealers within North America, there's just too much territory to cover and not enough dealerships"

So now, Maserati has begun building Maserati dealerships but still keeping Maserati sales at the existing Ferrari-Maserati dealers. They're doing this to increase the amount of dealers to convince Marchionne who is still undecided.

Here in Montreal, we have Ferrari-Maserati Quebec and now they've opened Maserati Laval. Truthfully, there just aren't enough Maserati cars around or even enough future potential Maserati buyers that would justify have 2 Maserati dealers and it seemed like a bizarre thing to do...especially that they are geographically pretty close to each other. So, obviously, they're just trying to increase the number of dealers.

That's what I know. If this was already posted, my apologies.

 

I think its a mistake to push them through Maserati dealerships. They'll end up being sold as an accessory to some rich Ferrari or Maserati buyer as opposed to being placed into the grassroots enthusiast who can just about afford this thing.

The same thing is happening with the Audi TTRS, nearly everyone that owns an R8 buys a TTRS as a daily driver.

Buying a 4C from a Maserati dealership is not going to persuade me to buy up into Maserati. I already would love a Grand Tourismo, but it surely won't be a new one so Im not their demographic anyway.

 

I love the idea of having a Maserati-Alfa Romeo showroom experience, but realistically Maserati dealers cannot cover the clientele and servicing needed to make Alfa Romeo a global player in the luxury arena.

I work in auto sales for Infiniti and previously for Volvo, and all our German competitors at least have 4-5 retailers in the Greater Montreal area. It's the only way to be truly competitive and offer peace of mind to future Alfa owners.

They failed 20 years ago when only Scotti and Luciani were able to service them.

 

I agree, Fiat is probably a better choice...

But don't you find it strange that there would be 2 separate Maserati dealers so close to one another? There's really not enough Maseratis being purchased that would justify having 2 so something is up....

 

I would say go with maserati. FIAT Chrysler dealers will just pull the Alfa brand down, and I dont see Alfa selling a lot of Mitos here, its going to go after small mercs and BMWs with flair and price, Alfa is upscale in the USa not subscale, maserati adds cachet. Plus maserati has done a great marketing job whereas Fiat is hardly the Italian Mini sucess story.

 

I am not sure it that's the reason for the replay. Alfa doesn't want to come to the US without the right products and apart from the 4C there won't be anything else until 2016 IMO.
As for the choice of dealership if Maserati wants to sell the amount of cars they expect in the US they must expand their dealership network a lot.
Fiat would be the best choice for Alfa as they could sell the various 500 types which have been doing very well and Alfas too.

Let's wait and see

 

Fab, part of the reason they opened Maserati Laval is to push the brand because of the upcoming SUV and new Ghibli.

Jaguar barely sells more cars and they have 2 or 3 retailers in the Montreal area, Porsche also saw massive expansion after the Cayenne and Boxster were launched, now we have 2 big retailers.

That being said, it wouldn't surprise me if Maserati Laval would get Alfa Romeo.

 

That is part of it but also they had to finalize the finances and ownership issue of the Fiat/Chrysler deal first. They did that a few months past.

Fiat dealerships will die if they do not get more new product. Alfa is their only hope. Every dealer I've talked to says they can't wait to sell Alfa's, including the 4C. But they've been waiting and waiting and waiting... it's frustrating for all.

What's going to happen is that the best dealerships that sell Fiat will be allowed to sell Alfa/Maserati but in a separate studio. Not all Fiat dealers will get them. This is similar to Mini/BMW. My take on this... some Fiat dealers will be forced to close if they do not get more Fiat product.

My issue is I wish they would just shut up until they do it. They've been dropping trial balloons all over the place and they look like idiots at times.

 

I agree with you. By the way, I think you should contact your local Fiat dealer as you said he is one of the biggest or best ones out there. I was told that a couple of Fiat dealers in the US got final confirmation (and told their customers) that they will be selling Alfa

 

Give Alfa to fiat and get competitive products out ASAP. Sergio needs to stfu and deliver quality cars ASAP- and tell Italian unions to stfu and get to work ASAP-another country would gladly take the work. My BMW was built in south Africa and has excellent build quality.

 

According to this, dealerships are now receiving notices from FIAT on who will get the Alfa-Romeos:

"Breaking News: Letters of intent are going out to select Fiat dealers letting them know they eligible for a new Alfa Romeo franchise."

North American Alfa Romeo Dealers Being Notified | Fiat 500 USA

 

Thanks. I'll send them an email and see what is going on. I'm talking to the GM but he hasn't said anything yet.

 

Has anyone gotten the letter? Is there 1 dealer that can confirm? So far, all I hear is rumours...

 

I think they are being notified now. I believe a lot of bigger dealers already know or could guess. My dealer said they were sure to be one and that was a few months ago.

I think until they are officially notified, they can't take an official order.

 

YESTERDAY'S NEWS

from my fiat dealer whom I will keep confidential for now

FIAT notified us today that we will be an Alfa Romeo retailer!
No info on cars or packaging, no info on inventory or timelines, but at least we know we will be one.

 

My dealer says there's nothing official to announce yet but it could be soon.

 

From a marketing perspective, the Chrysler-FIAT dealer network is the only way it will work in Canada. I believe there are only 4 Ferrari-Maserati dealers in all of Canada. They may have more than 1 showroom each but even the one in downtown Toronto is really only a "teaser" with limited space for maybe just 4 cars at most and no provisions for test driving.

Ferrari-Maserati dealers have nicer showrooms but if FIAT really wants to sell more Alfa Romeos and FIATs they should upgrade the Chrysler locations instead as they are usually found close to all the Mercedes (SLK), Ford (Mustang), GM (Vette), Jag (F-Type), Nissan (370Z) and BMW (Z4) dealers.

Beside, I already have my pickup truck serviced at Chrysler and while I am not interested in a new Viper I can make space for a new roadster.

 

Comments like "putting Alfa in a Fiat / Chrysler dealership will just pull the brand down" tell me that none of you with that mentality have stepped into a FIAT dealership.

There is really no such thing as a Fiat / Chrysler dealership. All the Fiat dealerships were launched as "studios" exclusive to the brand. If that has changed in the last year it's news to me. Fiat did their homework on this since you get the complete buying experience from an 'exclusive' dealer, but you can get your car serviced at any Chrysler dealership nationwide. Quite brilliant actually. They could never have afforded to enter the US market if it weren't for the Chrysler network which was already established.

Don't get it all twisted up, Ferrari was called the "car of dreams", Alfa was the working man's sports car. Unfortunately I see the 4C turning into a rich mans accessory.

 

Maybe there are short term practicalities to servicing with Fiat Chrysler. But the Fiat brand will not be pulling alfa up. Fiat's are heavily discounted in the USA and not really sucessful, the FIAT name is econo..

So yeah if I was a FIAT dealer I would want the volume form Alfa, and maybe Alfa is an economy+ brand in europe. But it was my understandig that Alfa was going to be more an Italian BMW here at ekast in the smaller car scale.

If you are not going to sell on lowest common denominator price, then dealerships need to be attractive as does service areas etc. The Alfa brand will also need cachet from a new pool of consumers. Lets face it no one shopping Hyundai or toyota for price is going to pay a premium for Alfa. Wheras enthuisiasts and more well off people looking for a smaller sporty car will.

There is a reason why Lexus suceeded by doing different dealers and showrooms. Alfa is going to need CLA and 3 series customers. I juts dont see those people being attracted to Chrysler service.

The idea I always thought was to build the Alfa brand, that means doing things right from the beginning, remmeber the old audi stores, they were proche audi, not audi vw.

 

The only way this is going to work is with a new Alfa/Maserati network that will have to be built up in the next few years. They will have time as they keep delaying the main Alfa products anyway. If I were them I would pick the very best FIAT dealers to sell the 4C and sell the remaining 4C's at Maserati dealers just like they did with the 8C.


I will bet FIAT branded cars will not be sold in the USA five years from now. I will also bet the FIAT branded cars will only be sold in a few select markets within five years, like Brazil and Italy, maybe China. M said he might rename the FIAT branded cars so we will see what he chooses to do.

Sorry to say but only the very best FIAT dealers will survive to become Alfa/Maserati dealers over the next few years. Otherwise the entire idea will fail and Alfa will be pulled back out of the N.A. market within a few pathetic years after very poor sales kill the plan.

 

+1

 

This is a very negative outlook....let's not forget that Fiat pulled Chrysler out of its misery and with the excitement that the Fiat arrival has generated in North America, it put Chrysler back in the black.

So Marchionne is not an idiot and seems to know what he's doing...even if the sales objectives were far from reaching their target.

Plus, the Alfa problem is not that no one wants them, it's that 2 brands within the Fiat group want it so badly they're fighting about it so Fiat products are highly desired by dealers so this is a positive for Fiat and this is the cause of the 4C delay at the moment.

 

That is all very true but has little to do with what will work. That's not really negative. FIAT is the odd name that has never had a good reputation in N.A. and they are not selling very well. I can see a SCION type rename or maybe they will just be tucked into the Chrysler line up in a few years. FIAT dealers need Alfa because FIATS are not selling well enough. I am sure M will come to the same conclusion. I never ever thought M was not smart and am glad he saved Chrysler, but mainly because it also saved FIAT wich controls Ferrari/Maserati and Alfa/Lancia. FIAT would also be gone let's not also forget if this Chrysler deal had not been done!! Who knows what would have happened to Ferrari. Alfa's would be VW's now.

 

I doubt that very much....Fiat is one of the largest holding in the world. They have Ferrari, soccer teams, several companies, etc...they've been around for a long time and every second car in Europe seems to be a Fiat.

They bought Chrysler, not the other way around. They did it because they could...just because Fiat was a little known entity in the US, it doesn't mean they're not big everywhere else and the US market (as attractive as it seems) is not going to make or break Fiat, they have a lot of other things outside the US that keep them afloat.

 

If you say so.........So the hold up for Alfa was not lack of money to develop new products out of europe???