The philosophy of Alfa Romeo

[dretceterini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by resqguy I saw this on the AutoBlog a while back. It seems that they are on the right track with this.

[pathung]

Vivace made a great point; if Alfa is too blind to see what enthusiasts want, let's tell them, or even build them ourselves.

I agree with all the preliminary specs V. threw out, and would further muse that we stop at designing a chassis that fits our needs, and let Alfa supply the engine mechanicals, since these were its forte. Alfa did a great job with the 105-series engines (and there's plenty of them lying around needing minor rebuilds, at reasonable prices) and gearboxes, so we might as well design a car with the correct mounting points to receive such. Now, if only I were an engineer...

[bcal]

History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we made today.
Henry Ford

Henry said this in 1916, but in later years he fervently resisted any change to his original motoring philosophy of ...“People can have the Model T in any color--so long as it's black”.

The world had moved on and by the early 30s Ford were caught flat footed by Chevrolet’s program of planned obsolescence. Old Henry and his philosophies had become a liability and so they had to go.

Same thing goes for Alfa or just about any other motoring manufacturer. Unless you want to cater to a small niche market you have to change to meet the demands of an ever changing market.

I like old Fords (1930s) and I like old Alfas (1960s). They both represent different things from different eras that appeal to me very much but apart from the name on the badge neither are the same today.

[Tubolare Zagato]

I would never buy an "Alfa Romeo" with an Opel engine fitted to it. Alfa Romeo is their engines, the firm had built a massive history "building" and was known as the maker of the most glorious and perfect engines out there. They must understand at Fiat that Alfa Romeo has a glorious history behind her and should not be a "badge engineering company" like VW, Audi and Seat for example. Unfortunately this is a really small detail for nowadays "Alfisti" people and they have no problem to buy anything with an Alfa badge fitted to it...
With all these in mind i wonder whether i would like Alfa Romeo to have been closed back then or it was better to be bought by Fiat...

[GTV116]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tubolare Zagato I would never buy an "Alfa Romeo" with an Opel engine fitted to it. Alfa Romeo is their engines, the firm had built a massive history "building" and was known as the maker of the most glorious and perfect engines out there. They must understand at Fiat that Alfa Romeo has a glorious history behind her and should not be a "badge engineering company" like VW, Audi and Seat for example. Unfortunately this is a really small detail for nowadays "Alfisti" people and they have no problem to buy anything with an Alfa badge fitted to it... With all these in mind i wonder whether i would like Alfa Romeo to have been closed back then or it was better to be bought by Fiat...

[dretceterini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcal History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history we made today. Henry Ford Henry said this in 1916, but in later years he fervently resisted any change to his original motoring philosophy of ...“People can have the Model T in any color--so long as it's black”. The world had moved on and by the early 30s Ford were caught flat footed by Chevrolet’s program of planned obsolescence. Old Henry and his philosophies had become a liability and so they had to go. Same thing goes for Alfa or just about any other motoring manufacturer. Unless you want to cater to a small niche market you have to change to meet the demands of an ever changing market. I like old Fords (1930s) and I like old Alfas (1960s). They both represent different things from different eras that appeal to me very much but apart from the name on the badge neither are the same today.

[Farace]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dretceterini Although many of us love the older Alfas, it's the concept and not the actual cars that many desire. I think a modern version of a Giulia or Giulietta, available in spider, coupe and sedan versions, weighing something like 2500 pounds, and with a 175 horsepower motor, would sell like crazy....especially if it were priced around $20,000-$25,000...

[GTV116]

The price of $20000-$25000 for an Alfa Romeo of these specifications is unobtainable (even if we are talking about a brasilian made Alfa.That's a Fiat's price tag).
Although an old fashioned Alfista,pissed off with Fiat's policy on Alfa (i wouldn't swap my Alfetta GTV with a Brera V6 and i prefer the reasonably priced and honest Fiat Croma 2.4 JTDM instead of the expensive 159's optional equipment's high charges-believe it or not -$1000 for metallic paint) i came to this conclusion:Alfa's purchase by Fiat will benefit Alfa Romeo in the future.This purchase's real victim was Lancia (Alfa's alter ego).Having two strong brands under the same umbrella and trying to reinforce Alfa's share in the italian market (in 1992 Alfa's share was 2,5% against 7.5% Lancia's share), Fiat's decision in general terms was the following:Alfa will build sport cars andLancia will build luxurycars.It's a sad story that Lancia ended up building Fiat's based and engined models under another name using chromium, alcantara and leather interior trims and hi-tech BOSE audio equipment.Gone are supercars like Stratos.Alfa made the limited production ES-30.Gone is racing involvement.Lancia's golden racing history with 10 world champion titles with Stratos,037 and Delta was followed by Alfa's mediocre presence in peripheral european championships.Lancia withdrew from right hand drive markets.Fiat is planning Alfa's come back to the US market.Lancia has a continuous shrinking range of models.Alfa has a continuous renewed and improved -at least in terms of quality- range.
So let us not be so pessimistic and critical of Alfa's position and future prospect.Let us all lament the glorious past,present and dubious future of Lancia.

[dretceterini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTV116 The price of $20000-$25000 for an Alfa Romeo of these specifications is unobtainable (even if we are talking about a brasilian made Alfa.That's a Fiat's price tag).

[Tubolare Zagato]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dretceterini I agree, and that is the problem. Since Alfa only builds 200,000 cars a year, the kind of car that most of us would like would wind up costing $40,000 or more. Heck, a Brera V-6 spider with all the options might actually cost double that!