Re: Alfa and Ferrari

["Tim Hancock" <timhancock@domain.elided>]

Graham Arlen's comments echo what I've been saying for some time. Whilst Alfa
and Maserati have re-found their niches, and Ferrari never really lost its
niche, FIAT have lost the plot and it may be too late for them. My wife learnt
to drive in a FIAT 128 1100 and her father had three 131s then a Lancia Thema.
My mum had a FIAT 128 1300 which was a great little car. We should be a
natural FIAT customer, but since 1990 my wife has had
four......Skodas......How come?

The answer is.....QUALITY QUALITY QUALITY, and value for money, and they have
better suspension and steering and ride/handling/feel than the
Japanese/Korean/Malaysian offerings. FIAT need to forget fancy electronic
gismos and get back to the basics of producing a good looking, good handling,
good value, and most importantly outstanding quality family car. They need to
recruit a few German and Japanese production engineers to achieve this. Heresy
it may be, but its also the truth. I fear the FIAT beaureacracy will prevent
this ever happening. When even the Italians have lost faith in FIAT cars you
need to think the unthinkable.

What frightened me most this week was seeing a Daewoo I liked the look
of...then I noticed the body shell is a Pininfarina design.Nuf said. Alfa is
doing too well now to kill off, but exactly who will own the brand in five
years time is a question I can't even begin to guess at.  Bit depressing
really as I am a FIAT fan deep down, and after all is said and done, without
FIAT, Alfa may have fizzled out years ago


Tim Hancock   Boston UK

164TS
164 Super
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