[stoneystu]

Just popped into Arnold Clark in Langstracht, they are refurbishing the Fiat/Kia showroom to be Alfa Romeo showroom. Not sure if its a joint one with Jeep, I would expect so as that seems to be the way its being done elsewhere.

The salesman I spoke to said it should all be complete in 6 weeks.

I have not had a good experience with Arnold Clark Alfa before in aberdeen, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. However its not the most high rent dealership location in Aberdeen, the premium brands have all moved out to Tullos I think thats the location they should have looked at.

Anyway at least its a step in the right direction!

 

[HendryG]

Presumably Jeep and Alfa will share what was the Kia half of the showroom, I dont think AC or indeed the majority of people see Alfa as a "prestige" brand, with only the Mito and Giulietta on sale for so long, I worked for Arnold Clark when they took over Reg Vardy/Evans Halshaw Fiat/Alfa in Paisley at the time AC lost the Alfa sales franchise and it was hard to see Alfa as a prestige brand sharing a dealership with cheap crap Fiat rubbish, even although they had the 159, Brera and GT at that time. The Fiat link sorta cheapened them, and I suspect thats why Alfa mainly got independent dealers like Western to sell them standalone or away from Fiat.

As for locations, I dont think theres a lot of ready made premises that Jeep/Alfa couldve gone into in Aberdeen, in order to move Kia they had to move Ford commercials as an add on to the Girdleness Road Service Centre, so that Kia could have their premises. The talk for a few years was of a FCA group dealership in Aberdeen although originally the talk was it could be at Kemnay, which has since closed.

Arnold did have a smart showroom in the area you mention which they ran as a Lexus dealership, but since losing/dropping Lexus they sold off the premises, and the only other spare dealership is the former Mazda one at Canal Road Mounthooly which is being used as a Hire Drive/Rental depot for AC, im nowhere near Aberdeen so not sure if thats a good location for a car dealership.

People say Perth AC Kia/Jeep isnt going to become an Alfa dealer, but to my knowledge Jeep will not be run as a separate franchise like it used to be before Fiat took them over, the plan was dual joint Alfa/Jeep dealerships, or at the very least Jeep in with Fiat/Abarth, but it doesnt look like Jeep is moving to the new Fiat showroom Arnold Clark are building and relocating to in Perth. 3 dealerships is simply not enough, particularly when 2 are Arnie Shark and grouped with other franchises like Fiat and Vauxhall where the salesmen will be more interested in pushing sales of Corsas, Astras, Puntos, 500s etc.

 

[HendryG]

I notice this still doesnt appear to have happened, at least not going by Arnies and ARs own website.

Is anyone closer to Aberdeen whos actually noticed any changes for this happening on site?

 

[dante giacosa]

hmm...

what goes on, then..?

 

[alexgee]

The old fiat and Kai showroom still seems to be getting refurbished

 

[stoneystu]

I'll pop in next week and see whats happening ... will report back.

 

[osney]

When I made enquiries earlier in the year, I was told there would be an AC Alfa franchise in Perth by the autumn. I guess I should have asked which year. Not that I'm rushing to give Arnold Clark any of my money after they tried to shaft me on the servicing of my first GT.

 

[Bergius]

So I can confirm Aberdeen now has a Alfa Dealer again. Just been up today to look at a Giulia and although the signage isn't up yet, they are open for business. According to the sales guy they have only been open for the last week.

Definitely helps to persuade myself to go for the veloce now I know I can get some support up here if required.

 

[osney]

So I can confirm Aberdeen now has a Alfa Dealer again. Just been up today to look at a Giulia and although the signage isn't up yet, they are open for business. According to the sales guy they have only been open for the last week.

Definitely helps to persuade myself to go for the veloce now I know I can get some support up here if required.

Interesting. Is it Arnold Clark or someone else? I've been in contact with AC in Paisley about a new Stelvio and they said they knew of no other Alfa dealerships opening in Scotland. Of course, they want the sale, so they would say that anyway.

Not that Aberdeen's any less distant to me than Paisley, but at least I used to live there and have friends I could visit while waiting for my car to be serviced!

 

[PapaSmurf]

Interesting. Is it Arnold Clark or someone else? I've been in contact with AC in Paisley about a new Stelvio and they said they knew of no other Alfa dealerships opening in Scotland. Of course, they want the sale, so they would say that anyway.

Not that Aberdeen's any less distant to me than Paisley, but at least I used to live there and have friends I could visit while waiting for my car to be serviced!

It is Arnold.

Who were you speaking to at Paisley? Andrew Wilson the Senior Salesman knows all about Aberdeen.

 

[osney]

It is Arnold.

Who were you speaking to at Paisley? Andrew Wilson the Senior Salesman knows all about Aberdeen.

Someone called Lucy Gregan. Her emails describes her as part of the Arnold Clark internet team, which would make sense as I filled in a form on the ARUK website for information.

Now if they could just be persuaded to open a dealership in Perth...

 

[PapaSmurf]

Someone called Lucy Gregan. Her emails describes her as part of the Arnold Clark internet team, which would make sense as I filled in a form on the ARUK website for information.

Now if they could just be persuaded to open a dealership in Perth...

The Internet teams, for any dealer, never seem to know anything. She would be sitting in an office in Glasgow somewhere rather than Paisley.

Unfortunately Perth doesn't seem to be on the cards. Best we can hope for is somewhere in Edinburgh.

 

[osney]

The Internet teams, for any dealer, never seem to know anything. She would be sitting in an office in Glasgow somewhere rather than Paisley.

Unfortunately Perth doesn't seem to be on the cards. Best we can hope for is somewhere in Edinburgh.

It baffles me why they don't have one in Edinburgh, but then ARUK and 'strategy' don't sit well together in a sentence.

 

[Bergius]

So it must be said initial impressions aren't great for the Aberdeen dealer. Enquired on a Giulia Veloce on Wednesday and still haven't heard anything back. I suspect it's because they can't get close to the deal offered by Unity, but even still a phone call would have been nice! Still hasn't stopped me ordering one through Unity Oxford.

 

[mgslusso]

So it must be said initial impressions aren't great for the Aberdeen dealer. Enquired on a Giulia Veloce on Wednesday and still haven't heard anything back. I suspect it's because they can't get close to the deal offered by Unity, but even still a phone call would have been nice! Still hasn't stopped me ordering one through Unity Oxford.

I live in Edinburgh and I got my Giulia from Unity in Oxford, a long trip but all went well.
For the software updates I've used Arnold Clark Fiat in Edinburgh, who to be fair have been ok. Dealer in Aberdeen could be option for me for service though as I've got a house on Moray coast and and am up in Aberdeen most months.
Be interested in hearing what they're like when up and running.