If YOU Were In Charge Of PSA/FCA What Would Your Plan Be For Alfa Romeo?

Move Alfa into the premium EV space. Don't try to match the German ICE lineups and then end up being years behind them in electrification. Keep Maserati for high performance ICE vehicles, with a single dealership network for Alfa and Maserati. They should eliminate the DS brand before they eliminate Alfa which has a storied name behind it.

these particular mega auto mergers are becoming comical.

Daimler + Chrysler = huge train-wreck of classing corporate cultures that later learned how to effectively collaborate - after they separated. RIP to the stillborn ME-412.

FIAT + Chrysler = Necessary combination for survival sake. Plenty of potential combinations of vehicles & powertrains but not capable of executing fast enough to meet market demand. Afraid to build something great for a fledgling brand that could hurt the credibility of another established brand. What's going on with the large Jeep/Chrysler SUV's? Why doesn't Chrysler lineup have any SUV's? Why is FIAT still trying to sell smaller (boring) cars in the US?

(tentative) FCA + PSA = huge unknown. They will need to establish WHO is controlling R&D before the merger is complete. They also need to dream big, develop a lot of concepts, & try to use the really good engine options they have already. Also, fill the model lineups for brands selling 2-3 vehicles. They're missing out on a lot of easy profits by not having SUV's of all sizes across all brands.

Alfa's interiors looks like they are from the 2000's.

Agree. That is a big issue keeping me from the brand.

It’s history and pedigree are rich and valuable, it should be sold to someone who can really bring it back!

Alfa needs a sporty two door Guilia and a sporty convertible. The platform handles so well (but at a reliability price) and the exterior styling is so beautiful that a coupe would be the sweet spot.

Not to use a derogatory term but if Alfa could capture the "guido-magic" that Infiniti had in the mid-2000's with the original G35 coupe and the FX35/45 SUV (which really invented the performance SUV segment by the way and both were built on the excellent 300ZX platform).

Every 25 year old male with big biceps, nice hair, and something to prove wanted an Infiniti coupe that they could straight pipe and tune a little bit to wring out some extra attention for themselves. Alfa needs to reinvent themselves to be aspirational where now they just come across as a little dull and Italian at the same time (but in the negative Italian things like poor reliability).

Alfa should be a beautiful, volume priced brand for people who want to show off.

Alfa can also re-launch a version of the Mazda Miata as a 'Duetto' and the Fiat Spyder can be cancelled.

In fact, Fiat in contrast should just be cancelled in the US and a version of Peugeot launched in its place. People liked Peugeots (competed with Volvo and Audi a long time ago) but Americans have NEVER liked Fiats

If YOU Were In Charge Of PSA/FCA What Would Your Plan Be For Alfa Romeo?

The Ax

IF I were PCA - I would not have gotten involved with FCA at all. I am not even sure I would have taken OPEL either. THey have three middle premium lines already - with Opel. FCA offers PCA nothing it really needed except maybe volume from Jeep. THey have NO cars worth anything at any level all the way to Maserati (which will be first to go).

PSA wants the same thing that Marchionne wanted for FIAT when they rescued Chrysler from bankruptcy. They want the
instant dealer network to re-enter North America the #1 open market In the world.

Instead of doing what should of been done for Maserati and Alfa in slowly building a quality dealer network, they took the quick route of using the Chrysler network of poor quality low rent buy here pay here mentality dealers akin to opening a Tiffany’s inside of WalMart. The results for Peugeot will be the same.

As stated a 2-door Guilia would be great and expected for the segment. A reborn GTV would be nice as well as an entry level sporty car. They sold the Mito in the EU and that could be a good city car with some flair. They could also move up and make a mid-large size SUV that seats 7 and a 5-Series/A6 competitor car from that same platform. Maybe BEV's maybe hybrid.

Kill Alfa Romeo and build up Maserati in its place.

First they should focus on quality control and building up their dealers/dealership experience. Second they should up the warranty to give clients a bit more confidence. Third follow a lot of the suggestions above such as the 2 door Giulia, new GTV, something with the Miata platform (with much more Alfazation that Fiat did)

Alfa really should not be focusing on more models until it can figure a way to make their current lineup more reliable. The Giorgio platform was developed in a little more than 15 months. It was rushed to market. This was a Marchione mistake. It needed another year of development to iron out all the glitches.The 2 SUV's the Stelvio and the upcoming Tonale need to dramatically bring up sales numbers. That means improved reliability and dealer service. Once Alfa can prove that they can build reliable vehicles and the word gets out sales can improve. Until then Alfa needs to discount the shit out of all their offerings so they can at least buy into the market. I would suggest a 7 grand discount on Stelvios and Giulias at the minimum on 2020 vehicles. Yes for 2020 interior quality has improved. But will reliability improve? You can't expect improved sales until there is evidence of improved reliability. Now I don't know how their reliability compares to BMW and Audi but Alfa has to at least improve its perception of bad reliability.

Giorgio wasn’t developed in 15 months, but actually was delayed for 15 months which coupled with delays in the launch of the Levante is what cost Harald Wester his job as head of Maserati/Alfa. Marchionne installed Reid Bigland in his place who pushed forward both the Levante and Giulia into production.

Giorgio WAS developed in 15 months. They essentially took a Charger. Narrowed it slightly. Changed the wheelbase. and proclaimed it all new. The Giorgio needed another 2 years of development to engineer out all that is wrong with it. Killing Alfa Romeo is necessary. It's becoming increasingly obvious that the reason the the Challenger and Charger did not migrate to Giorgio is because Giorgio is total shit.

Killing Alfa is necessary, terminating dealers that are 2 steps removed from a trailer on a stone parking lot is which amounts to the entire Chrysler dealer network.

I like the idea of buying into the market, great idea, I would also suggest boosting those warrantees, shows confidence in your product and nothing will focus them on quality more than having to pay lots in warrantee repairs. Not sure the "platform" discussion as that seems to be pretty well sorted from all the driving reviews and my own test drives. It seems to be more the electronics and some engine issues that are causing them headaches and bad press.

For the most part Alfa and Maserati have the same issues. If you actually talk to the people that own them, an overwhelming majority love their cars. What they don’t like is the sales and service they receive. Upscale products are all about the sales and service experience.

Maseratis--because they are essentially Chrysler 300s--are also much more reliable than the truly terrible Alfa Romeos. Alfa was never a premium brand. Repositioning it as an Italian Subaru and repositioning Maserati as a BMW brand makes sense.