Alfa SUV, the BMW X1 and selling cars on Mars

Posted: Tuesday 06 July 2010 by Alison

These ’spy shots’ of an Alfa rebadged BMW X1 seen at the 100 years Alfa celebration got the Italians excited that their Alfa SUV was finally on its way, with hopes that the dream wouldn’t continue for years to come yet. X1 jokes aside, an Alfa SUV is apparently crucial to the company’s success with its increased sales strategy we mentioned in our post on the five-door Alfa MiTo.

An Alfa SUV would likely be based on a Chrysler model, built in the US and then shipped to Europe. Two models would eventually emerge, with the second possibly being similar to the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and plans are that they would accont for 80-100,000 units of the famous half a million sales.

Analysts are extremely skeptical though, and Alfa is looking overly ambitious in its sales targets. The original quote from Arndt Ellinghorst, in fact, reads: “The potential of the (Alfa) brand is huge, but to multiply sales fivefold in five years they probably also will need to sell cars on the Moon and on Mars”.