The good news is that Alfa Romeo has been verbally thinking about re-entering the US market. And, presumably,
with a production derivative of the Giugiaro Brera, as seen at Geneva in February 2005.
Now, take that with a grain of salt. Alfa has pulled this one before. In 2001, Forbes magazine hailed the return of Alfa to the US, with the news of GM’s purchase of 20 percent of Fiat. It didn’t happen.
Alfa Romeo
Brera. Nice but is it enough?
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Since that time, GM, at a price of 2 billion US, pulled out of the Fiat purchase, Maserati was taken off the back of Ferrari, Giugiaro's Brera was introduced at Geneva three years ago, and ex-BMW exec Karl-Heinz Kalbfell was hired to do wonders with Alfa Romeo, which is now aligned with Maserati.
Add it all up and we have another attempt to invade the distant—and perilous shores of the U.S.
Sounds good so far. The downside is that this time the plans have a unique and ironic twist. The platform chassis for the new Brera is a legacy of the late GM/Fiat association. Designed as a premium chassis for SAAB (which GM owns), the chassis was too expensive for the Swedish company, and yet given to Alfa Romeo. Don't ask about the logic here.
In addition, the engine blocks—both the four and the V6, are also GM products. The V6 is reportedly produced by Holden in Australia, and is an aluminum block with Nikasil coating on the cylinder bores. Kalbfell, in an interview for Edmunds, put it this way: "The engines comply with GM emissions standards and the platform also complies with all international standards. But they are very much Alfa Romeo programs, too. Only we will use this platform, and the engines are also unique to Alfa Romeo — because of their components and tune." To clarify, apparently Alfa designed the heads and tuned the GM-based engines to their specs.
It is also unlikely that that expensive platform will be used solely by Alfa, and both the V6 and the GM platform may be seen in future Maseratis.
The new engines and chassis will first be seen on the 159 sedan, already launched in Europe. So far, the reviews have been good. But rather than import the sedan, the current plans for the U.S. involve only the Brera coupe, and later a Spyder version.
Traditional Alfa enthusiasts may feel a bit strange behind the wheel of what is ostensibly a GM based Italian performance car. For Fiat, who helped GM develop casting technology, it seems a shame.
But it is unlikely that the traditional Alfa enthusiast—the thousands whom today own old Spiders, 164s, Milanos and earlier cars—will be the prime buyers of the new Alfas. The new Brera will be expensive, below the Maserati line up and competitive with the BMW M3. While the price is speculative, the base price of the 159 sedan is $48,000 in Italy. Take it from there.
The Alfa Romeo 8c Competizione was designed and built by the "Centro Stile Alfa". Photo copyright Alessandro Gerelli.
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Tradition, long an Alfa selling point, particularly in Europe, means very little to the rest of the car buyers in the U.S. The car will be aimed at Gen X’ers who think the BMW is cool. American buyers are not notoriously brand-loyal, but a product must capture the imagination and have a great ad campaign. From the stirring BMW 2002 ads in the early seventies, to the latest dog-with-a-helmet TV spot, BMW has consistently created the right image in the minds of U.S. buyers. Even more important to U.S. buyers are reliability, a strong dealer network, and superb quality; all are issues to be dealt with. Alfa must start from scratch. "America is the strongest and most demanding market in the world. We have to be well prepared. We won't reenter America until we're ready, and I can't give you that date now," noted Kalbfell. He knows the pitfalls. "Alfa Romeo is very much a relationship brand. It is one of the most emotional brands in the world, the magic of rosso. But we need to give customers some good common sense, rational reasons to buy Alfa Romeos, too, like quality, ease of use and comfort."
Would we buy the Alfa 8c Competizione? You bet. Photo copyright Alessandro Gerelli.
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While the new Brera may be nice, it is neither different nor spectacular, coming off as a nicely styled GT coupe of only moderate performance. Wouldn't it be better to make a big splash, a grand entry, worthy of a true Alfa Romeo?
In 2004, again at Geneva, Alfa presented the in-house designed 8C Competizione coupe, captured by our Italian correspondent, Alessandro Gerelli.. Forget the Brera, productionize the 8C and bring it on. A flagship indeed—assuming the V-8 is not a derivative of the GM Northstar.
