Alfa back to the US with Chrysler?

[Little Italian]

Last night - Monday Night - they announced they will have a Special Report about Fiats plans for eliminating some Chrysler lines, the future of Chrysler operations with Fiat, and opening a plant in....... Mexico!

The Special report will air on Wednesday, November 4th, on the Nightly Business Report on PBS. The Nightly Business report airs at 6:30 here in Kentucky but check your local times.

Bud Feigel

[paulbinct]

I am pretty sure Fiat has a plant in Mexico already I think that they use for Mexican and Latin American markets (not sure what it produces now). This existing plant would be used for the 500 production - Fiat has said this for some time already; we will see tomorrow what the offical announcement has to say.

[gt601]

Fiat México

I want one of these! Fiat México

Mexico is starting to get a lot of cool Utes like they have in Australia and places like that.
Paul

[paulbinct]

The Subaru Brat Lives!!! (I wonder if they have two jump seats in the bed?)

And obviously the designer of the Chevy Avalanche has found a new job with Fiat Mexico! Either that or there was a special on plastic body cladding.

Fiat México

[paulbinct]

If you have about 7 (!) hours to spare tomorrow here is a link to the live webcast in which Chrysler, LLC lays out its future, hopefully heavy on Fiat and Alfa vehicles. 11:00 AM EST to 6:00 PM EST. Advanced registration is required, not sure if they verify your credentials or just give you a link.

Chrysler Group LLC: Corporate Website - Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Mopar and GEM

[Aghevli]

You can also follow up-to-the-minute reports of the event via this link;
#Chrysler - Twitter Search

[Alfissimo Int.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aghevli You can also follow up-to-the-minute reports of the event via this link; #Chrysler - Twitter Search

[paulbinct]

been following Twiiter, the many snide comments aside listening to the patter has been interesting. On twitter do #chrysler search to get all the tweets

[Alfissimo Int.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by paulbinct been following Twiiter, the many snide comments aside listening to the patter has been interesting. On twitter do #chrysler search to get all the tweets

[bob7468]

They mention Lancia but not Alfa ... sweet

[paulbinct]

It appears Alfa is not part of the Chrysler plan at this point, at least as far as selling Alfas in the US. They may use US factories for the production of Fiat badge vehicles. It appears all the WSJ speculation and otherwise was all wrong. They said something about if a business case can be made to sell 70k Alfas and this is something like 2014. The Chrysler we will see is basically a slow merger of Chrysler onto Fiat modified platforms in the C and D segments (compact to midsize) and the use of Fiat engines and Fiat technology. The 500 in three variants is part of the plan, as part an urban dealer approach - the 'best' dealers.

[Alfissimo Int.]

Marchionne Just mentioned he has no issue bringing Fiat and Fiat brands to US after they fix Chrysler regardless of past reputation!! At least a hint. I don't think we will see alfa's until sometime around 2013-14

[Aghevli]

The entire point of the plan was to outline Fiats method of saving the Chrysler group, NOT expanding Alfa to the US market (that should come at another time). Fiat is mainly mentioned here for its technology, not it's cars, which is probably a good thing at this point; if I were Fiat I would not want to use a six hours press event to announce the re-entry of a new marque to the USA if I was essentially hired by the US government to save a national namesake such as Chrysler. The re-entry of Alfa Romeo is the last thing most Americans care to hear about (outside message boards such as these).

The Fiat 500 is expected to serve as a scaffold for sales until the the truly new (and desirable) stuff arrives in a few years. That is the only reason why it was worth mentioning.

I think it would be logical to expect news on Alfas re-entry to the US market when the next-generation Spider, Brera, and 159 are in development.

[Alfissimo Int.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aghevli The entire point of the plan was to outline Fiats method of saving the Chrysler group, NOT expanding Alfa to the US market (that should come at another time). Fiat is mainly mentioned here for its technology, not it's cars, which is probably a good thing at this point; if I were Fiat I would not want to use a six hours press event to announce the re-entry of a new marque to the USA if I was essentially hired by the US government to save a national namesake such as Chrysler. The re-entry of Alfa Romeo is the last thing most Americans care to hear about (outside message boards such as these). The Fiat 500 is expected to serve as a scaffold for sales until the the truly new (and desirable) stuff arrives in a few years. That is the only reason why it was worth mentioning. I think it would be logical to expect news on Alfas re-entry to the US market when the next-generation Spider, Brera, and 159 are in development.

[Pat Braden]

I am not the least bit surprised by the non-mention of Alfa Romeo's re-entry...this is definitely the Fiat Show and I'm sure they're hoping by the time they straighten Chrysler around, if that in fact is possible or ever happens, that most will have forgotten that Alfa even exists. A perfect excuse for never bringing it back in...what, who?

On the upside, even with a down economy, the established non-return of Alfa for the next 6 years, and 6 years is a long time when you're talking about a car's development or re-entry, should keep Alfa prices up or raise them since the speculation has been removed about replacement Alfas, even though they're not same Alfas, coming ashore. Having said that, if the prices in fact increase, the new tier of who can afford them will be created similar to the narrow tier of those who can afford to own the old 8cs etc.