[NPR]

A somewhat depressing article in the this week's Autocar suggesting that Marchionne could pull the plug on the Alfa brand sooner rather than later. With 2009 sales a little more than 100,000 so much depends on the new Giulietta launch , with the rest of the range not performing to expectations.
Is the writing on the wall after so many years of false dawns ?
All those on the 166 section have been eyeing a face lift 3.2 that has recently been traded in by an AROC member , who has just bought an XF ! Not surprisingly this is the customer's response to all the dithering that has taken place with the 166 replacement , which may now never happen.

 

[symon]

IMO the 159 was more of a 166 replacement than a 156 replacement due to its size.


Anyway, Alfa is what Fiat have made it. Lots of people bought 156's and had problems due to the Fiat based TS engine and the dodgy dealers. A large proportion of those people won't buy another Alfa and therein lies the problem.

 

[toby2449]

i agree with Symon, Fiat/Alfa have no one but themselves to blame, they had a chance with the 156 to hit the big time, the car got rave reviews all over the place, Alfa were on a high, & then poor quality & awful dealer service let the side down. people who'd come over from BMW etc got fed up & went back to BMW where they've stayed, & Alfa will never get them back.
Pretty designs don't cut it anymore, the 159/Brera & Spider were all to fat & not up to the standard of Germany's best. Sure i'd buy a 159 over a 3 series any day, but thats an emotional thing!
I doubt the Giulietta will be the last new Alfa though, i reckon it will win buyers to the brand, but Alfa have to work hard not to **** it up this time!

I've said this before, but Alfa's biggest problem is Lancia! Lancia get sod all funding & now consistently outsell Alfa across Europe, Merchoinne must look at Alfa see the money they've thrown at it, look at Lancia & wonder how the hell they manage to get the sales they do after been starved of funding with only one new launch since the Musa in 2004!

 

[symon]

Well at least the Mito appears to be selling well.

That should give Alfa some more cash to bankroll future models.


Hopefully they will be more than re-shelled Fiats as well.

 

[Graham P]

Very confusing when I have just read this on a review of the 159: -

'2009 proved a remarkable year for Alfa Romeo with its total market share growing by 52.39%, making it one of the year’s highest achievers.

It gave the brand its highest sales total since 2003'

 

[Scudetto]

Very confusing when I have just read this on a review of the 159: -

'2009 proved a remarkable year for Alfa Romeo with its total market share growing by 52.39%, making it one of the year’s highest achievers.

It gave the brand its highest sales total since 2003'

any year when Alfa sells more than seven cars is a 'miracle' year, just as it has been since 1979.

plus - to be blunt - it was the Scrappage Scheme that helped shift most new Alfa models.

 

[Bones146Ti]

Not bad in a Market that was down 30%+

Alfa was also up 4%Jan 2010 on Jan 2009 I think they have now been up for the last 11 month running. They have also pulled out of daily rental to help The RV and it look like it is helping.

This could be a record year.

 

[Feldone]

Not bad in a Market that was down 30%+

Alfa was also up 4%Jan 2010 on Jan 2009 I think they have now been up for the last 11 month running. They have also pulled out of daily rental to help The RV and it look like it is helping.

This could be a record year.

As far as I can see from the numbers; 3 key winners over 2009

Alfa due to Mito
Fiat due to 500
Hyundai due to I30

 

[Mangoletsi]

to be blunt - it was the Scrappage Scheme that helped shift most new Alfa models.

....this is factually incorrect - it is not the scrappage scheme that secured the best year of Alfa sales in the UK since 2003 - the good Alfa Romeo result for 2009 was down to the MiTo and the recession.

....and before anyone says it.....only a small % of MiTo's have been sold on the scrappage scheme. Fiat not Alfa Romeo have had a great year due to the scrappage scheme as nearly 70% of Fiat sales since July '09 have been on scrappage.

MiTo will sell more in 2010 than in 2009 and Giulietta will add a few thousand sales to the last 6 months of this year too - so 2010 sould be a much better year for Alfa Romeo in the UK than 2009.

Regards

 

[gazza12345]

IMO, The best thing alfa can do is bring out a small coupe, very light, use the 2.2jts, 2.4 diesel and 3.2 v6 engines.
The only reason why people buy alfa's is that they look good and go like the clappers, but the going like the clappers bit has gone slightly out the window. They are concentraiting ont he luxury part more than performance, and lets face it with competition being audi and bmw in that department they dont stand a chance, and with alfa's bad name for reliability that puts them down the bottom of the list to start with. So they should stick to what their good at and to what everyone knows them by, and make some good looking and fast cars, that handle well for a change!

 

[Fraser]

I have never understood how people can say Alfa can't compete with Audi. Audi make well screwed together piles of poo. The cars neither ride nor handle well and they are remarkably unreliable. Having owned an Audi myself and driven more than a few the attraction of the cars to the press and the general public is beyond me. They are, quite simply, the most expensive pieces of dullsville you could possibly buy.

 

[gazza12345]

I have never understood how people can say Alfa can't compete with Audi. Audi make well screwed together piles of poo. The cars neither ride nor handle well and they are remarkably unreliable. Having owned an Audi myself and driven more than a few the attraction of the cars to the press and the general public is beyond me. They are, quite simply, the most expensive pieces of dullsville you could possibly buy.

I'm not saying audi are better than alfa, i would buy an alfa over an audi any day of the week. But would the general public... No! So why try and compete with them, Its the same story with my company, i recently started to make cnc machined parts, my competetor makes parts for NASA Space shuttles. Now my selling point wouldn't be to say that i make excellent procesion parts, because it is obvious that the customer is going to go to the person that NASA use. So i use a differant selling stratergy,-which is quick turn around. So what i'm saying is alfa need to back off trying to beat audi/BMW, because at the end of the day it isnt going to work for another 100 years. So what they need to think is what they are good at...Good looking cars...Fast and good handling cars. But then they brought out the MiTo, It is neither good looking, Fast or good handling like alfa's should. So if they loose these selling points, what have they got...Ugly cars that are on par with a ford fiesta for speed and handling, So for the general public to make a choice out of the two, I know for a fact which one they would choose.
And another thing is why alfa are scared to use bigger engines if they want to compete with the germans, like the audi rs4 woild rain all over the 3.2 159 Q4, so why not make a bigger v8 engine, power to the back...Happy days.

 

[Spider Aktiv]

I have never understood how people can say Alfa can't compete with Audi. Audi make well screwed together piles of poo. The cars neither ride nor handle well and they are remarkably unreliable. Having owned an Audi myself and driven more than a few the attraction of the cars to the press and the general public is beyond me. They are, quite simply, the most expensive pieces of dullsville you could possibly buy.

IMO Audi is a better car compared with Alfa, I,ve only had 2 a TT and the older shape 1998 A4, I thought both handled well and I had only a few minor problems. My Alfa spider is a third car a toy for when the sun comes out and is great at what it does but I would not buy a newish Alfa for my main car, we bought an 06 Passat diesel sport after looking at the 159.

I used to have a 156 2.5V6 and would have another if one comes up for £1500-£2000.

May be Alfa should concentrate on the Mito and new Giulietta drop the 159 and plod on with Brera and new Spider same as they did with the old Spider and GTV.

 

[zambugsky]

I say keep building those beautiful small cars with decent power and good handling, like the Mito and the coming Giulietta. If the 'sud saved Alfa back in the 70's, its small car range will save it in the 2010's, especially given the rocky economic situation now and buyers downsizing. Mitos for the masses

Maybe it was a mistake for Alfa to go head-to-head against the big boys at Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Buyers already had the notion that Italian sedans had dubious quality... all it took was shoddy dealer service and a few bad cars to make that impression come true, even though the 159 was far ahead of the 156 and comparable to the German offerings. BMW's, Mercs and Audis all have their share of crappy cars but you never hear about their problems.

 

[Graham P]

and Giulietta will add a few thousand sales to the last 6 months of this year too

When is the Giulietta going to be available and will the 235bhp Cloverleaf model be available straight away?

 

[Fraser]

IMO Audi is a better car compared with Alfa, I,ve only had 2 a TT and the older shape 1998 A4, I thought both handled well and I had only a few minor problems. My Alfa spider is a third car a toy for when the sun comes out and is great at what it does but I would not buy a newish Alfa for my main car, we bought an 06 Passat diesel sport after looking at the 159.

I used to have a 156 2.5V6 and would have another if one comes up for £1500-£2000.

May be Alfa should concentrate on the Mito and new Giulietta drop the 159 and plod on with Brera and new Spider same as they did with the old Spider and GTV.

Why drop the 159 when its sales are improving?

The 159 is a far superior car to the A4 in every way apart from, possibly, build quality (and even then it's not far behind). Take the RS4 out of the equation and there is no competion. I'd like to find another car that handles like a sofa yet rides like you're driving across a washboard. So far the A4 is the only car I've come across that qualifies (actually, in thinking about it, the A3 reaches those heady heights as well). It even manages to throw into the package accurate and precise but strangely dead steering.

You will remember that the TT was THE least reliable car that you could buy for quite a long time. Some of the newer Audis are also managing that remarkable feat in their various sectors (despite the huge purchase prices). Even the R8 is of very questionable reliability. What Audi are good at are advertising and marketing. Not much more than that.

I'll grant that a passat rides well, but you need to have supremely enhanced senses of perception to figure out what the steering is doing. It's a car completely devoid of character.

None of this, of course, helps Alfa Romeo, which has suffered from bad management and marketing and a lingering poor reputation caused by the rust buckets of the 70's and 80's and then the false promise of the 156 and the poor dealership network. These are the reasons for the poor sales of the 159/Brera/Spider although it's nice to see some promise in the improved figures during a recessionarly period. The big concern is the mismanagement of the brand by Fiat, not the quality, reliability or appeal of the cars, which is comparable and, in some cases, better, than the big german brands (as indicated by the recent german J D Power Survey).

It would, however, be nice to see some more support and less snobbery for a much improved range of cars from the so-called Alfisti as well.

 

[Mangoletsi]

When is the Giulietta going to be available and will the 235bhp Cloverleaf model be available straight away?

Hi Graham

Giulietta UK launch is June 2010, some dealers will have a LHD model in the showrooms soon after the Geneva Motor Show in March. Final UK specs & prices are still to be confirmed so we don't know yet about the 235BHP Cloverleaf. The UK plan is to be taking orders from March onwards for delivery from June onwards.

Regards
Mangoletsi

 

[jsfletcher159]

I've said this before, but Alfa's biggest problem is Lancia! Lancia get sod all funding & now consistently outsell Alfa across Europe, Merchoinne must look at Alfa see the money they've thrown at it, look at Lancia & wonder how the hell they manage to get the sales they do after been starved of funding with only one new launch since the Musa in 2004!

Defies all logic :wow:

Have you seen the junk Lancia churn out?

 

[symon]

Defies all logic :wow:

Have you seen the junk Lancia churn out?

Well junk sells.

That is how Vauxhall/Opel, Hyundai, Kia etc stay in business.

It seems most people prefer mediocrity for some reason.

 

[Nev]

Well, according to my sources, there is a new Alfa due in '11:

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/way-...agazine-mock-up-the-new-2011-alfa-giulia.html