AutoWeek

[JHertzman@domain.elided]

In AD7-1488 James Tsakirgis quotes the March 27 Autoweek article as saying 
"Alfa only sold 594 cars it's last year in 1995, with another 400 cars 
released to dealers in 1997" and asks "Does this mean there were 400 LS & Q's 
sitting around a lot for two years and then sold in 1997 at dealers?"

That isn't what my copy of the March 27 Autoweek article says; it says "In 
1995 Alfa sold 565 cars. Another 400 cars, still on dealer lots, weren't 
cleared until 1997."

Perhaps it was a different edition. The author, Luca Cierri, is the European 
Editor and I assumed is based in Europe. Perhaps his report was garbled, with 
an extra 29 cars +/- and other changes. In any case, "not cleared" from 
dealers' lots "until 1997" is not the same thing as "released to dealers in 
1997". "Does this mean there were 400 LS & Q's sitting around a lot for two 
years and then sold in 1997 at dealers?" No. It could equally well mean that 
the last unsold 1991 base wasn't sold until 1997, which wouldn't surprise me; 
a dealer might well have had an easier time selling the newest upscale 
variant than the last of the leftover early ones.

The article mentioned that Alfa's peak year here was 1986, with 8201 cars 
sold- presumably mostly the first flush of Milanos. It also mentioned, 
somewhat embarassingly, that the Milano finished next to last in the 1986 
J.D. Power initial quality survey, just ahead of Yugo. Ouch. 

John H.
'87 Milano, w/no problems
'91 164, cleared from the back of the lot when the '93s were due
Raleigh, N.C.

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