Alfa CEO given 1000 days to turnaround company

Alfa Romeo is set for a rough couple of years. The carmaker is on the verge of relaunching in the U.S. and to make matters worse the boss of its parent company, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, has laid down the challenge of doubling Alfa’s sales and turning around the carmaker’s fortunes before its centenary in June 2010. This gives Alfa Romeo’s new CEO Luca De Meo roughly 1,000 days to set things right.

Alfa Romeo still has a lot of problems on its hands. The carmaker has been losing more than €200 million per year, and its volume 159 compact sedan is selling far below expectations. Worst of all, its cars perform poorly in customer satisfaction rankings in most major European markets. For example, Alfas were rated second-to-last in last year’s J.D. Power’s survey for the UK.

If anyone is capable of improving Alfa, it’s De Meo. The Italian exec is credited with turning around Fiat’s performance during the 1990s and he’s also dabbled with the Lancia brand as well. Unfortunately, with Alfa’s rather narrow and aged model lineup, and the main Pomigliano d’Arco plant shut down for two months, De Meo will have a tough time meeting the 300,000 unit target by 2010.
Read Article

Spectator - 1/31/2008 11:55:29 AM

0 Boost

Gee...only 1000 days.

SHOWTIME - 1/31/2008 12:00:16 PM

+1 Boost

LOL

pacotacolol - 1/31/2008 3:44:31 PM

0 Boost

nah.

fuelfool - 1/31/2008 4:06:12 PM

0 Boost

The Brera is a good start. If they can build on that design language and slot under Maserati, but still maintain the same exotic feel they have a chance here in the US.

rok_altima - 1/31/2008 5:45:46 PM

0 Boost

Alfa makes some stunning looking cars, and the 159 has pure style for a family sedan. One of their problems is not only their percieved reliability rating, but their cars are more expensive than other mainstream European makes. The volume 159 is also a sedan which has limited appeal in this price bracket for European drivers, which prefer hatchbacks. They need to develop a hatchback slotted below the 147 (same body as Brera) in price and size without cutting into Fiat.

Spectator - 2/1/2008 12:27:47 PM

+1 Boost

Guess I pissed off Luca De Meo...apparently he deboosted me.