Any more info as to when Alfa will return to USA?

If things keep going according to planned you should be able to purchase one in late 2009 / early 2010. It's worth the wait

 

The first car imported to usa will be the 8c competizione the next year.
I don't know if the new spider will be in Usa.

The new Alfa Romeo have a great quality of the interior, great handling(of course) but a big problem... the weight.

Sorry for my english

 

At this point, I'd guess sometime after pigs fly.

Alfa has been announcing a return to the US for a decade. The target date keeps slipping.

Latest was that they were going to partner with GM dealerships. Then the GM interest in Fiat Group fell off.

But as long as they only sell stylish FWDs, they'll get creamed by Toyota, Lexus, and Mazda.

Alas, there are no more "real" Alfas.

 

all right! One of the biggest problem is how can sale Alfa in America? The answer is Maserati.

What do you think about the 8c competizione? little overprice? the beauty is not enough?

 

We will probably know in the next couple of weeks. Expect an announcement at the Paris Auto Show.

 

True. They are FIAT under another skin.

And, ALFA with front wheel drive: horrid!!!

 

I take it you have neither experience with modern Fiats or modern Alfas

 

You are right!
My last Alfa was a 1750 years ago, one of the last TRUE Alfas.
I stopped buying Alfa when they adopted front wheel drive, which is not compatible with the sporty image they try to project. Plus, there is too much of badge-engineering now.

Most of the floorpans are common on FIAT-ALFA and Lancia, check it for yourself. The bodies and interiors are often the only distinctions between these 3 makes.
The 4-cyl engines are re-worked FIA, the V6 are GM sourced also found on Opel, Vauxhall and some SAAB.

Alfa 4WD are only available on some top of the range models, copied from the Lancia Integrale.

 

I know this is off-subject, but MG is coming back to the US.

Unfortunately, they are now owned by the Chinese and the cars are going to be manufactured in Oklahoma!

 

Yeah, I have reservation about that too.
Are they just going to carry on with the previous MG?
With what engine?

 

Yeah, I have reservations about that too.
Are they just going to carry on with the previous MG?
With what engine?

When the Koreans took away the manufacture of the British built Panther and Lotus Elan, they made pigs'ears of them, and they never sold. Are the Chinese going to be more clever? Yet to see...

I can't see the sense of building a car factory in a country which has one of the highest labour cost in the world, but they must have done their sums.

 

This is FAR from true, that would be true for Lancia & Fiat but it is not when it comes to Alfa, they have theyr OWN platforms.

The 4 cyl are infact shared with Fiat (albeit not all of them), but the ones that are have been heavily revised. The V6 GM is a common mistake, it is not GM sourced, it was DEVELOPED in partnership with GM

That is completly false, because not only has the Alfa a much bigger RWD bias but also the Integrale tech is almost 20 years old.

William I sugest that you visit an Alfa Romeo dealer

 

Great looking a car!
Similar specs to the maserati coupe. Is it the same car under the skin?

 

The definitive specification will be at Paris.

But no the body is in carbon fiber the motor is the new 4.7 liter

 

1) Sizes vary in wheelbase, but are of the same design with several FIAT platforms. It make sense for FIAT: platforms are one of the most costly components of a car structure to research. I wouldn't even be surprised if the FIAT group was sharing some platforms with other manufacturers: Peugeot?, Citroen?

2) I admit that the tuning, injection, ECU, etc... are different on 4-cyl between FIAT and Alfa
"DEVELOPED in partnership", well, they would say that, wouldn't they?
Alfa uses a fraction of V6s compared to GM production, so they couldn't have been a major partner, could they? Truth is they buy the engines, and adapt them with different components.

3) Actually, the Lancia Integrale and subsequent ALFA 4WD system were NOT designed by the FIAT group, but by Hewland here in UK. There is no stigma to that, most manufacturers use engineering consultant firms these days.

4) I don't need to do that! There are enough professional revues about car manufactuting, the Journal of the Society of Automobile Engineers, the British Society of Engineers publications and so on to keep me informed.

One of my cardinal rules is NEVER BELIEVE WHAT A SALESMAN TELLS YOU, FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF. I never get taken by glossy brochures or sales pitch, but then, I'm an old cynical.

There is nothing wrong with all that cross-breeding and badge-engineering inside the same group; everyone else do it. Having said all that, some Alfas do look good, even now.

 

It's a different market in the US.

Camrys are made in Kentucky (moving from GA, I think), so they're "domestic" cars. They're very reliable, common as dirt and just as cheap, and run forever without even an oil change.

The Alfa FWD sedans are pretty.

And that's about all you can say for them. Their (lack of) reliability, service requirements, and price difference will kill them. Even in the "sports" market, the aftermarket industry for Type Rs and other ricers will leave stock Alfas looking like an old man's sedan.

Alfa AWD machines will be up against Audis, BMWs, WRXs, STis and EVOs. Again, pretty isn't going to be enough.

Today's american buyer doesn't pay that much attention to styling. Heck, they actually managed to sell the Aztec here -- possibly the ugliest vehicle ever created.

Fiat has never been able to run a good dealer network in the US. Fiat pulled their own line long, long ago, after an abortive attempt to market through GM dealers -- who didn't know how to fix them. After Fiat bought Alfa, the Alfa network disintegrated. Fiat made an attempt to turn over management to Chrysler, but the Milano's reliability put the nail in Fiat Romeo's coffin.

It's hard enough to sell euro cars that require regular maintenance in the US. Having to take a car to a dealership 70 miles away for a 15K service is going to lose to a car with three dealers right in town. Selling one without having good maintenance available at all is an exercise in futility.

Even BMW and Audi had to resort to including 3 years' maintenance in the sales price.

A camry in italian shoes just won't sell if it won't keep running and you can't get it fixed.

Alfa needs different cars for the US market -- classic RWD sports cars like the Alfetta/GTV-6/75.

But I don't expect Fiat to develop cars specifically for this market. At one point, they were going to try to market the GM "Epsilon" chassis -- shared with the Saab and some GM machines -- as an "Alfa" for the US. That would be, in effect, "returning" to the US market by just shipping a box of ECUs and badges to a GM assembly line.

Fiat execs need to figure out that Boise isn't Rome.

And the clock is ticking. When I moved to Virginia, I had a co-worker, my insurance agent, and the DMV all ask the same question: "Alfa Romeo? What's that?".

They need a credible sports car to sell to the few yanks that still remember the marque.