Re: alfa-digest V8 #1083

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

On Friday, September 6, 2002, at 03:53  PM, alfa-digest wrote:

> Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 14:58:52 EDT
> From: GLewis4457@domain.elided
> Subject: Re: Alfa and US safety laws
>
> In a message dated 9/6/2002 12:27:48 AM Central Daylight Time,
> owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:
>
> > > we Alfa Romeo lovers would like to have to have new Alfas.
> > > At one time, if a marque wasn't represented in the USA, one could 
> > > just
> > > buy one overseas and bring it back (or, there were places like
> > > Zumbach's in New York who would do it for you). Now we can't. Why?
> > > because new Alfas can't pass the SAME US safety laws as those laws 
> > > that
> > > SUVs DON'T HAVE TO PASS! What good are safety laws when the largest
> > > single type of vehicle bought in this country isn't required to 
> > > adhere
> > > to those laws? I'll tell you what it does. It makes a mockery of the
> > > laws, and it keeps many people from buying the brand and type of car
> > > they want. That's what it does, and I, for one, resent it. The guy 
> > > who
> > > wants to buy a non-complying truck, because that's his passion, gets 
> > > to
> > > do so with Uncle Sam's blessing. Those of us who want to follow our
> > > passion and buy a new Alfa Romeo cannot, because the same laws that
> > > lets SUVs exist won't let us bring an Alfa into the USA. That's 
> > > Freedom?
> > >
> > > My 2 Cents worth.
> > >
> > > George Graves
> Well, it ain't even worth that much.  We don't have Alfa in the US for 
> a much
> simpler reason....by the time they pulled out they could not give a 
> car away,
> let alone sell one.  I believe that in their last year in the US they 
> sold
> something like 600 cars, maybe fewer.
True (actually it was less than 500 cars in all of North America 
including Canada). But that's NOT the point.



> Same story for Renault, Peugeot, and a
> host of others.  Do you really think that Fiat could not engineer a 
> car to
> meet US standards if there was a market for them here?
Of course they could, but again, that's NOT the point.

> Meeting those
> standards is not rocket science and how to do it is well known in the
> industry.  Does this mean that they are not as good engineers as Kia 
> and
> Hyundai who meet the standards with ease?  So cut the crap about US 
> safety
> and emission standards keeping Alfa away...only thing keeping Alfa 
> away is a
> committment by Fiat...nothing more.
You seem to miss my point completely. All of the manufacturers that you 
mention have every right to decide not to have a sales presence here. 
They made that decision because at the time they pulled out, they 
didn't sell enough product here to justify the cost of maintaining a 
dealership network, warranties, parts and service, and the numbers sold 
certainly did not warrant the tremendous expense of 'federalizing' 
their cars. Alfa, in particular, had, essentially, no product. Alfa had 
only an almost 30 year-old Spider which was getting its lunch eaten by 
the then new Mazda Miata which cost less and looked fresher while 
providing what looked (on paper anyway) like a similar performing car, 
and the 164. A large sedan which looked like a Peugeot and cost like a 
Cadillac.

But Alfas didn't have official dealer networks in the USA before or 
right after WWII either. Yet, if Americans wanted new Alfas, they could 
get them. In fact, one could get anything if one wanted it. Now, 
because of stupid laws that are so unevenly applied that the most 
popular vehicles in the country are exempt from them, one can't even go 
to Europe, buy a new Alfa (or Peugeot 206 WRC, or TVR or MG or 
whatever), and bring it back. But Bubba and every soccer mom in the 
country can buy an SUV which pollutes far more, uses much more gas, and 
is far more deadly and dangerous on the road than any non-complying 
European car that a few thousand Americans might feel strongly enough 
about to want to go to Europe and buy. That;s what I'm complaining 
about, not the fact that these auto manufacturers have decided not to 
officially participate in this market. This is what puts us behind an 
Automotive Iron Curtain. This is what limits our freedom of choice. And 
I'll tell you, if these stupid laws were actually proven effective, and 
if they were fairly applied in such a way that ALL vehicles had to 
comply equally to them, I might be a little less angry about this 
hypocrisy on the part of our government "for our own good" than I am 
now. I'm tired of know-nothing bureaucrats telling me what is and isn't 
in my best interest! I'm an American, dammit. I don't need a blinking 
Big Brother!


George Graves
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