Alfas Rentry Problems

[Kevin.FILLIP@domain.elided]

     Giovanni writes:
     
     >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.
     
     Cmon Giovanni, you really believe that the hordes driving around 
     Dallas in their GS300's, Acura 3.2TL's, Infiniti I30's and Lincoln 
     LS's bought these cars simply because they wanted a "luxury" car as 
     opposed to a "sporting" car. I don't buy it for a second. I submit to 
     you that people are buying these cars in large part because they are 
     perceived as a good value and they are reliable. This is Alfas 
     competition in North America like it or not. What do you think is 
     going to go through the mind of Joe Q consumer who is being asked to 
     pony up $29K for a 156 2.0 twink versus $27K for an Acura 3.2 TL. 
     Hmmm......Italian car or Japanese car.....weekly trips to the 
     dealer....or my usual 3 p.m. tee time. My point remains that rightly 
     or wrongly, Alfa has a horrible reputation for reliability in the U.S. 
     and the Japanese do not. Can they overcome this...perhaps, they will 
     most certainly have a very hard row to hoe and it will take a number 
     of years.
     
     >Also I disagree 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.
     
     Again, outside of the Valley where the average 24 yr. old probably has 
     more money than the GDP of the Ivory Coast I don't believe that hoards 
     of Gen Y's will be lining up to plunk down $19K to $20K on a 145 as 
     opposed to continuing to snap up the ubiquitous Integras and GTi's I 
     see everywhere. I may be wrong, but I don't think so. As for the BMW 3 
     series challenger that would most certainly be the 156. Again, I'd 
     refer you to my earlier comment regarding price points. Gen Y Johnny 
     cashes in his options and has to decide between a base 323i at $27K or 
     a 156 Twink at $29K............Easy decision for me, but for the rest 
     of the buying public I'm not so sure. Same point for the 166. Its 
     competitors will be the LS400's, Q45's etc....
     
     Kevin (We don't need no stinkin Beemers) Fillip
     Dallas, TX
     
     '91 164
     '91 Spider
     '91 Spider Veloce
     
     

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End of alfa-digest V7 #1443
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