re: Autoweek

[Joe Elliott <jee@domain.elided>]

At 9:02 AM -0400 9/21/01, alfa-digest wrote:
>Alfa will wait to bring new models to U.S.; Peugeot eyes America
>
>
>
>Alfas likely won't hit the U.S. market until the 2005 model year.
>
>General Motors and Fiat have abandoned their initial plan to retrofit current
>Alfa Romeo cars to meet U.S. standards for sale here in 2003, and will
>instead bring all-new models to this country starting with the 2005 model
>year. Similarly, early plans to offer Alfas through the Cadillac dealer
>network may yield to the alternative of selling the cars through Saab
>dealers.
>The new Alfa Spyder due in 2005, the 156 replacement expected in 2006 and the
>high-end 166 model due in 2007 are the most likely models to appear here. All
>are being developed jointly by Saab, Alfa and Lancia, and all will share
>underlying architecture. Engines and transmissions are being developed by the
>Fiat-GM powertrain division, which has absorbed all of Fiatbs and GMbs
>powertrain business throughout Europe.

Well, Autoweek also said this week that the new GTA was turbocharged 
and that the Selespeed gearbox was a Fiat-branded product.  If their 
facts aren't accurate, how can we expect their wild speculation to be 
accurate?

Additionally, since when were they planning on bringing in the 
current models.  Be it 2002 or 2005, hasn't the rumored plan always 
been to bring in the replacements for the current generation of 
Alfas?  And I am further doubtful of any reference to retrofitting 
current models.  As someone pointed out, any car sold in Switzerland 
is essentially ready for the USA, it's just a matter of going through 
the certification process.  And think about it, when the '94-current 
Spider was being developed, no one knew whether or not they were 
going to sell it in the USA, so of course it was designed to comply 
with the regulations.

</rant>

--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided