Re: perception v ?

[Jarmanhome@domain.elided]

 In ADV8#8, Charlie/LA writes:          
"And, people act upon their perceptions, not necessarily reality.
...But people act on what they believe, so it is time to start changing 
misperceptions, and that is harder than...... flying by wire."

Frustrating, but true.  This led me to recall some of the instances in recent 
years of public (non-aficionado, non-Alfisti) contact with my Spider, or 
until recently, our 164LS.  I found there are basically two groups, those who 
know Alfa exists, but who have little or no real knowledge of the marque 
(other than those perceptions!).  The other group consists of the 
twenty-somethings and younger who are totally unaware of what the name 
signifies, both male and female I might add.
Now people will often obscure their own perceptions in an effort to be polite 
or non-offensive.  I'm sure there was some of that.  However, the interesting 
thing is that most folks who took the time to come over, gawk, chat a while, 
and "curiosear" (as my Hispanic/Alfista wife Irene would say) were genuinely 
interested in the product.  The questions I did take concerning reliability 
were always general, and I was glad to field them honestly by telling them 
that our Alfas had been good cars, cars that anyone could count on to get 
them there and back.  When I showed them that under the hood, our Alfas were 
extremely current and state-of-the-industry, with quality systems (ie Bosch, 
AMP, TRW), the reaction was always positive and of mild surprise!  This led 
me to believe a lot of people had a Maserati/Ferrari image of Alfa 
maintenance, which I think most all of us will agree is simply untrue.  
Notwithstanding the vigilance some of us have found necessary with 24 valve 
timing belts, our 164 was not what I call a quirky car.  It was a car my Mom, 
bless her heart, could have owned.  It still would have been best to take it 
to the qualified Alfa service center for most maintenance, but then most new 
car owners return to dealers for those things anyway, don't they?   
Back to perceptions.  Irene drove our 164 mostly, daily routine, from 1995 
through this past June, and she has countless Alfista war stories about 
questions and comments from owners of other marques.  All were positive!  The 
164LS left very good impressions of Alfa wherever it went, and given the 
opportunity, we of course reinforced those impressions.  Note that this kind 
of reaction was consistently from owners of other luxury cars, coupes and 
utilitarian vehicles alike.  My brother-in-law, a dedicated Toyota owner 
(Avalon), was impressed with the sound of the doors closing, the all-leather 
trim and high level of standard equipment for the 1994 model year.  My '91 
Spider has left the same wake, in various circles.  Every time, people smile 
and are wide-eyed to hear that my Spider has been like the sun coming up in 
the morning for me - always there.  Truthfully, I would stack it up against 
any Miata ever made for reliability.  
Bottom line- I think people in general are receptive to products, even 
somewhat unfamiliar products, as long as no outright poisonous stories 
circulate (e.g., the current Firestone vs FoMoCo melee).  At the risk of 
restarting a dead thread, I'll express the hope that the General can show 
FIAT a few things about seriously marketing a car line in North America. Our 
experience with peoples' perceptions show the potential is there for Alfa to 
succeed.  The main reason the perceptions Charlie talks about exist here is 
that far too many Alfa owners in the past have let Bubba work on their 
vehicle (or Bubba was smooth enough to convince them he could work on their 
Alfa), and it got hopelessly screwed up.  Word got around, not about Bubba, 
but about the poor Alfa.  

Dave, Irene and Mikey Jarman
Lexington KY  USA

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