Re: AutoWeek Alfa US return article

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

In my opinion, they are about to make the same mistake that they made  
in the early nineties- the same mistake that had them leaving this  
market with less than 500 cars sold in all of North America for 1995.  
They need to come here with their ENTIRE LINE instead of just sending  
their largest and most expensive models. Just selling a  
stratospherically priced Brera-like coupe, a Spider and the replacement  
for the 166 means that there will be NO Alfas for enthusiasts who can't  
afford or can't justify a US $50,000  to $90,000 car. Having driven  
both a 156 and a 147 extensively in Europe, I can tell you that this is  
where Alfa would be successful. These are attractive, marvelous cars.  
The 166, on the other hand, is huge, underpowered, and heavy. It will  
cost more than 50 grand. The Spider will be in the same general area,  
but the Brera-like GTV will be upwards of 70 grand - no question about  
it. In Europe, 147's start at around $19,000 and a V-6 GTA version is  
under 30. Likewise, 156's start in the low 20's and a fully tricked-out  
GTA with the 250 HP 2.5 liter engine is around US$40,000. These are the  
cars that Alfa NEEDS to be selling here in this market (Including the  
new direct injection 2-liter 4 cylinder engined versions). These are  
cars that working stiffs like most of us could afford. I fear that with  
their current plan, if they do come back, their stay will be very  
short. It will still leave most Alfisti driving 20-50 year old Alfas  
because the new ones - even if they are any good (GM's involvement is a  
bad omen in my opinion) will remain out of reach and they will sell far  
fewer cars here than they could or need to sell in order to be  
successful.

George Graves
'86 GTV-6


On Monday, March 10, 2003, at 02:52 PM, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 09:45:37 -0800
> From: "John Burrows" <jburrows@domain.elided>
> Subject: AutoWeek Alfa US return article
>
> FWIW:
>
> http://www.autoweek.com/ 
> cat_content.mv?port_code=autoweek&cat_code=carne
> ws&loc_code=index&content_code=03580248
>
> Cheers,
> John
> Seattle, WA
>
> '73 115.01
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