Alfa Romeo’s Stateside Return, Delayed Until 2013
Alfa Romeo Giulietta
You probably know by now that ever since Fiat returned to the United States market with the launch of the tiny 500 models, there have been rumors about bringing the Alfa Romeo brand there. Up until now, reports said that this will occur in the second part of 2012, but now various sources say that it has been pushed back until mid-2013.
The reason for this delay is because Sergio Marchionne, Fiat-Chrysler CEO, is unhappy with the proposed car designs for the U.S. market. He cited styling and manufacturing issues that must be resolved before the launch of the 2013 Alfa Romeo Giulia.
This means that the Giulia won’t hit the dealerships in late-2012 as it was planned before. Most likely, it will be launched in the summer of 2013, leaving Alfa without a piece of the action in two continents. As a consequence, the Italian automaker won’t have anything to offer in the mid-range segment.
In addition, Marchionne is also unhappy with the efforts of Chrysler’s designers to retool the Giulia as a replacement model for the Chrysler 200 and the Dodge Avenger, two of the models that the Fiat-Chrysler alliance plans to debut two years from now. Taking into consideration that the Giulia and these two Chrysler will be based on the same platform, it means that if one of them is postponed, the others will also have to wait.
The Italian automaker Alfa Romeo will continue to offer only three models: MiTo, 159 and the Guilietta, until they release in late-2012 an all-new SUV model.
Source: AutoNews via AutoBlog
Post tags: Tags: Alfa Romeo, News
