Re: [alfa] stirring up trouble

[Keith Walker <100662.3423@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi

Fiat build quality (nor Alfas) is not that bad. How reliable they are
depends on what you count as faults. Some UK surveys have
made them out to be really bad, others to be really good. It
comes down to whether you regard a failed window switch
on a Fiat as just as serious as a fried set of clocks on
a BMW. One costs a nominal amount to fix, the other a
truly frightening amount to fix. Those that have just rated
the number of repairs required have given Fiat a hard time,
yet those that consider the cost of those repairs have
seen Fiat do very well.

With all due respect, the 164 is now ancient history. As a
car it was designed by Alfa before the Fiat take over,
basically developed almost 20 years ago. Effectively as a
design it is over 1/2 of the age of the Alfetta.

The current range are good solid cars. They do have occasional
faults, as do all makes. In the UK their main problem seems
to be the dealers failing to rectify these faults adequatly. Eg
a work colleague who had repeated problems with the airbag
warning light on his 156 which the dealers just fixed by resetting
the warning light rather than actually tracing the problem. Other
makes seem to manage the problems far more effectively (eg
a friend whose fairly old Lexus ignition switch broke at well
over 100000 miles / 10 years which was replaced for free as
Lexus said it should not have worn out). Some of this is no
doubt the dealers, but some is also no doubt the support
the dealers receive from the importers and parent company.

Comparing them to GM would be frightening. UK market
equivalent mainstream GM vehicle to a 156 would be a
Vectra. A relative who had our old 75 off us complained
about the running costs until she saw the bills for her
husbands company Vectra that were quite frightening.

Another issue they have is low resale value. This is a bit
of a visous circle. Low value means that people do not spend
the money on maintenance so problems occur. Low value is
how we just bought a 1997 Alfa 155 2L TS with 68000 on
the clock for #1400 (around US$2100). At that cost a full
service with belts changed, water pump, and a new set of disks
and pads would be around to 2/3 the value of the car.

While Alfa quality might not be the best in the world (and at
their price point you would not expect it), it is certainly not
really much different to most other premium marques. BMW
and Mercedes both have problems with build quality, but they
have both managed to successfully deal with these problems
without too much bad press. Alfa needs to do the same.

A bigger question would be will the US market provide sufficient
returns to make it worthwhile selling cars there? With very low
profit margins per unit and the need to cover a large geographical
area it is quite probable that it is just not worth bothering. There
are emerging markets around the world that would give a far
greater return on investment. Bottom UK price for a basic 147
is #13350 for a 105hp 1.6, so around US$20000. If Alfa could
not sell it for that then the profit margins would probably be
too small to make it worthwhile.

All the best

Keith
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