Alfa Romeo 8c Competizione
Alfa Brera
Alfa Romeo Spider
Alfa Romeo 159
Alfa 8c Competizione Spider Concept
Alfa Romeo arrives in the USA in early 2009
Alfa Romeo looks set to take America by storm, first delivering the 8C Competizione to a few selected customers towards the end of 2007, then launching the Brera and the Spider in the US under its halo, these two models should be available a little earlier than predicted with the first cars likely to be on sale in the Spring of 2009, followed the 159 in early 2010.
There's also an increasing possibility that the 8C Competizione Spider will also go into a limited production run of 500 cars in late 2008 with around 70 of them heading for the States.
With the launch of the 8C, Alfa Romeo’s flagship model, which is based loosely on the Maserati 4200, Alfa Romeo has decided to use the Maserati dealership network for sales and servicing of the Alfa Romeo marque. Alfa Romeo will expect all its dealerships to only promote its own products so you are unlikely to see the marque being sold together with other prestige marques like BMW or Mercedes.
Initially Alfa Romeo intends to sell approximately 20,000 cars a year in the USA with the ambitious target of 175,000 sales within 5 years. With a view to the US launch Alfa Romeo intends to put the models on a diet and intends to reduce the kerb weight by 150kg. This will help with both performance and economy figures.
Alfa’s long awaited return to the US is a key part of the companies worldwide strategy and its success there is necessary for the marque’s long term health. The company's restructuring of its service network is being based on a model that is being tested here in the UK market, with customer service being made a priority. Knowing the level of service that is expected on the other side of the pond there are hard lessons to be learnt. However, the product is significantly better built than all previous Alfa Romeos so there may be fewer problems with customer service as a result.
In time Alfa Romeo is likely to release the 169 and CXOver in the USA, but you are not likely to see either the 149 or Mito in the US, but we will keep you informed of what we know to be happening over there.
JP