Will Alfa Romeo's Aggressive Master Plan Make It The NEXT Audi?

Subject: "Will Alfa Romeo's Aggressive Master Plan Make It The NEXT Audi?"
No. I'd bet blood on that.

Article: "Despite our love of Alfa's past, we're unconvinced by its future," said Max Warburton, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein.

We're comparing apples to oranges.

After seeing the new B9 A4, why would any company want to be the next Audi.

Brilliant.

With Audi hellbent on standing still Alfa Romeo and Jaguar could very easily target the A4 with their newest entries an deal a significant blow. In the USA, Audi sales are way way way below Mercedes and BMW.

If it were between the A4 (bland and dull) or the Giulia (awkward and strange), I'll take the Giulia because (1) Alfa's stylists at least put in an effort, whereas the Audi stylists gave up, and (2) the Alfa is RWD, not a FWD product with AWD pasted in to compensate for the FWD nature of the platform.

Sure an A4 quattro can generate good numbers, but it's numb handling because of the AWD and the BMW and Mercedes simply aren't.

I cannot wait to drive the Giulia.

I don't really find the Styling of the Giulia awkward. Italian styling beats to a different drummer. Stylists are not afraid to try new styling elements. I actually think the front end looks better than the current Mito and Giulietta. It is also musclular looking and in Cloverleave guise looks like it has 503 HP. But no I don't think Alfa will get close to Marchionne's predictions. However I do believe the Giulia will sell at least as well as Jaguar's ne XE model. But to get to even 40% of the volumes Marchionne is predicting Alfa is going to need more main stream models and fast. The SUV is probably even more important than the Giulia. Thing is the Giulia is probably going to start in the high 30 grand range with a 2.0 300 HP 4 cylinder. Price wise that is in the ball park with Audi, BMW and Mercedes C size near luxury cars. Alfa, however needs to have an Audi A 3 Fighter, a BMW 2 series fighter and the Mercedes A250. That is a revised rear wheel drive Giulietta for 30 grande. That would pump up the volume. The D size car to compete with BMW will not sell in enough volume to get the numbers up.

But literally NOTHING about its styling is Italian.

Well the V nose coming into the front grill is an Alfa styling trait. The head lights are kind of simpler design of the Brera and 159 except the way they dip at the bottom. The 3 quarter view front shows a rounded car. The rear window design and C pillar echos the early 70's GTV and 2600. The wheels with a the round circles are classic Alfa. So I do think it has Alfa styling traits. The front grill spoiler echos both the Mito and Giulietta Cloverleaf performance models. True the styling is not classic old, old Alfa but it is definitely an Italian car.It is way better looking than the new Audi A4 and on par with a 3 series BMW.

It has the Alfa traits of it's heritage. I hope they don't just use Chrysler (unreliable) parts underneath. Wasn't it the Chrysler UAW employees caught drinking and smoking pot at lunch break. Yep!! Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzyRjX_pX5c

1 - Will Alfa be one of the top players in 20 years like AUDI - nope

Audi had/has VW behind it - Alfa had/has FIAT behind it (Only in the USA would Chrysler be considered at all - and that won't be a good thing) - There is simply no comparison - Fiat just does not have the financial clout to keep up - much less produce a true competitor to the Others.

The question is - will Fiat still be a player in 20- years. (And I mean FIAT - not the rest of the company) - and to that - I beleive will be a no as well