[none]

[grizzo@domain.elided]

    << I would respectfully disagree. If Alfa ever decided to return their 
     competition would in fact be Honda in the form of its Acura division 
     and Lexus and Infiniti et al. I spent an interesting Sat. evening with 
     a friend of mine who had just sold his MB 320 for a brand new Lexus 
     GS300. His primary motivation was the reliability and upkeep cost of 
     the MB vs. a comparable Japanese luxo. product. Overall, he was 
     disappointed with the level of problems he'd had with the MB. I found 
     this very interesting as this is the type of individual (middle age, 
     two income, professional) I believe that Alfa would have to capture in 
     order to be successful here in North America. For fun we went out and 
     test drove his GS300. I have to say it was pretty impressive. Fit and 
     finish are outstanding and the car moves out. Steering felt a bit 
     light for my tastes but that usually seems to be the case with 
     Japanese cars. Anyway, don't know if I'd spend 40K for a GS300 but if 
     the decision was between it and a 166, I'd have to seriously consider 
     it. 
     
     Kevin Fillip>>

Kevin , that is just my point, Alfa should compete in the market where their
defining characteristics offer some advantage, Trying to out-luxury Lexus won't
work IMHO. Like it or not Alfa has to sway buyers that now buy from the
Omnipotent BMW brand. True price is in the same ballpark as the brands you've
mentioned, but what sporting driver is buying for example the GS300 (can't have
a stick and the V8?) or Lincoln's new LS over a 5-series. Alfa and BMW and a few
others make REAL sport sedans, most of the others (Lexus nad Lincoln for
example) are just trying to.

Also I disagaree that Alfa has to capture the market you suggest, the market
they need to capture is me at 24 yrs old and everyone younger than me, this is
Alfa's future, Generation Y so to speak. If another generation grows up not
caring about Alfa, they may never recover here. To this end Alfa should
concentrate on sport hatches (145) sport cars (GTV/Spyder) and entry level
sports sedans to fight the 3. Forget the 166, Alfa and big cars won't cut it in
U.S. I think Alfa might still be here had they brought over the 155 and 33
instead of the 164.

Lastly, you'd really have a hard time choosing between a 166 and a GS?

Giovanni
88 Verde
(hoping to add a new Alfa to the stable one day)

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