Alfa sedans

[Will Owen <nashwill@domain.elided>]

In V7, #1330, Don said:

"Even though I own a 164, running up against the 3
series was suicidal for Alfa."

Only because of ARDONA's marketing strategy, a thing
which was essentially nonexistent. Here's some
background: 

Alfa pretty much invented the popularly-priced sports
sedan after WW2, and by 1962 they flat owned the
market. BMW, on the ropes after a string of
money-losing cars (except for the Isetta/600/700
family, which made very small profits), took a
desperate stab at that particular niche with the 1500,
and started making some money for a change. After the
1500 had grown into the 1800, they introduced the
smaller 1600 2-door, which became the fabled 2002. In
the meantime, Alfa had never made any real attempt to
market their berline over here, assuming that the bulk
of Americans who'd buy small sedans were interested
only in economy. BMW's success blind-sided them, as
did the Yuppie phenomenon, and they never did get a
handle on any of it...and so as the 2002 became the
stodgier 320i, and the more pretentious (and much less
interesting) succeeding 3-series variants, Alfa
managed to miss every chance to take over that
bandwagon, in spite of a product that was in many ways
superior to the overpriced and overblown Germans. 

We can argue why and how come till the beer's all
gone, but it's as plain as plain to me: it wasn't the
cars, it was the idiots trying to market them...or, as
it seems, trying NOT to.

Will Owen
'87 Milano Gold
...and hoping for another Berlina someday...
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End of alfa-digest V7 #1333
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