Why doesn't Fiat / Alfa sell in the USA?

jayok

Title says it all. Noticed while selecting the country on both sites that US is not listed. Given its the largest market (at the mo) for cars, why isn't FIAT / Alfa Romeo there?

unkel

Alfas used to be sold in the States. The plan is that they will return but I've been hearing that for a long time...

mthd

Last I heard Alfa were meant to be returning to the US in late 2007 and building a factory there.

Redsoxfan

They are gearing up for a return to the US. 2009/2010 I believe.

PRND

My 2p worth is derived from tv and films.

Dustin Hoffman drove an Alfa Spider in The Graduate so they have obviously been on sale there at one time.

In King of the Hill, Dale remarks that Hank's truck isn't working as it is a Ford, which stands for Fix It Again Toni. Hank corrects him that that is for Fiat which suggests the writers of Koth would expect their audience to know what is a Fiat.

peasant

Probably doesn't help that FIAT/Alfa has been teetering on the edge of bancruptcy for years now and that re-opening US sales would take quite a bit of investment.

L1011

Reputation was atrocious over there and people didn't continue to buy them like they did here. Also, in the 80s US car regulations were insane - read up on the changes to the Rover 600 required to make it saleable in the US (as the 'Sterling').

Alfa is returning there shortly,and the Fiat 500 will be sold there as the first Fiat back. They have an existing dealer network there - albeit small - Maserati.

peasant - Fiat have been fine financially since about 2006. Sales are up - significantly - and warranty repair rates have plummeted for the newly engineered cars (Panda, Grande Punto, the new vans, etc).

ninty9er

Alfa Romeo Distributors of North America, Inc.
7453 Brokerage Drive
Orlando, FL 32809
407-856-5000

On the financial note, the family that owns FIAT only runs it as a hobbyhorse, they wouldn't be able to fund it indefinitely, but losses wouldn't hit FIAT as hard as say...Ford or GM

bazz26

FIAT were not very successful at making or selling medium to large cars. They are better at making small hatchbacks like the Punto which the Americas have little or no interest in. Though the new 500 might have a bit of niche market over there just like the MINI.

European car makers have always had a tougher time trying to crack the American market than say the Japs. The Japs gave the Americans more of what they wanted - arm chairs on wheels, where as generally the Europeans tried to give them the same as we get.

maidhc

ninty9er wrote: »

On the financial note, the family that owns FIAT only runs it as a hobbyhorse, they wouldn't be able to fund it indefinitely, but losses wouldn't hit FIAT as hard as say...Ford or GM

I think that is a slight exaggeration! It is a business owned by a super rich family, who have lots of other business interests (e.g. http://www.fiatgroup.com/en-us/sectors/pages/Default.aspx)

ninty9er

maidhc wrote: »

I think that is a slight exaggeration! It is a business owned by a super rich family, who have lots of other business interests (e.g. http://www.fiatgroup.com/en-us/sectors/pages/Default.aspx)

I think they own a majority share in a large Italian bank and have doevtail(think that's the term) shares in German banks too

zilog_jones

bazz26 wrote: »

European car makers have always had a tougher time trying to crack the American market than say the Japs. The Japs gave the Americans more of what they wanted - arm chairs on wheels...

Yeah, none of the European marques make anything as big and mundane as the likes of the Toyota Camry

Though saying that, they do seem to sell their smaller cars to the yanks too. They were selling the Tercel over there for years, which is pretty much a slightly larger saloon Starlet, and now have the "Yaris Sedan" (really a Belta, similarly related to the Yaris/Vitz). Of course you won't get any engine smaller than a 1.5 - they'd probably laugh you out of the country if you tried selling a 3-pot over there!

alfarocks

ninty9er wrote: »

On the financial note, the family that owns FIAT only runs it as a hobbyhorse, they wouldn't be able to fund it indefinitely, but losses wouldn't hit FIAT as hard as say...Ford or GM

FIAT Auto post €800m profits last year, FIAT group had a record profiy of €3.2bn - not bad for a hobbyhorse.

Redsoxfan

Looks like they may actually make Alfas in the US in the next few years.

E92

Things are definately changing in the US though, lots of car makers are going offering diesels in the very near future, now either the car makers are really stupid and want to lose money hand over fist or the US is making a big change(methinks the latter), and Chevy wants to build a "Muscle car" with a 4 cylinder engine(the Camaro), VW want to sell the Polo in the US, Ford will be selling the new Fiesta there, and they're even talking about selling it as a hatchback too in time to come :eek:. Of course anyone who reads WorldCarFans.com will know that many US car enthusiasts are actually mad to get all our Ford models, and can't for the life of them understand why Ford hasn't brought in Euro designed Fords into the US earlier. Hopefully it will work a treat, after all Toyota sells more or less the same car everywhere with minor variations and look at how well they sell in the US and the world in general.

Us Europeans might be getting more Americanised in many ways but at least their car buying tastes are becoming more like ours:)!

peasant

E92 wrote: »

Us Europeans might be getting more Americanised in many ways but at least their car buying tastes are becoming more like ours:)!

Nope ...just their fuel is getting more expensive

ciarsd

Isn't there a couple of Alfa 8C's destined for New York? I thought I read it on one of the auto blogs late last year.

As for an actual permanent base - it's definitely going ahead according to employees in Turnpike House and an FIAT/Alfa dealer I've talked with.

zilog_jones

peasant wrote: »

Nope ...just their fuel is getting more expensive

And they're starting to get diesel that can actually be used in modern common-rail engines.

Lex Luthor

Redsoxfan wrote: »

Looks like they may actually make Alfas in the US in the next few years.

I heard Mexico was also supposed to be considered for the Mi-To