Alfa Romeo Plan Change
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| Someone expecting a crash? The new Giulia |
I don't know what FCA head honcho Sergio Marchionne was thinking when he dreamed of a fast growing Alfa Romeo on the back of an expensive expansion. It isn't sold in enough countries and would have to pry loyal customers away form successful competitors. The precious money taken to achieve an uncertain outcome made no sense when proven profitable divisions such as Jeep and Ram would have less money spent on them.
Now it has been realised that was a mistake and AR will now only get a Giulia (anytime now) and mid sized SUV (end of 2017). It seems the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart will run their model cycle out and not be replaced. The money will go to SUVs and pickup trucks, there the market is heading and where the profit is found. Sanity has prevailed and won the day.
FCA has signalled AR can do collaborations with some models. Eminently sensible as that will be a trend that will accelerated across the industry as car manufacturers try to keep costs down while retaining a full and competitive range of vehicles. Jaguar comes to mind as an excellent partner and surely Jaguar would appreciate the benefits it would derive from sharing costs too.