Fiat is going to have to play a delicate game so as not to step on the toes of any Chrysler models in the US. According to reports from Autocar, the Fiat 500 will be followed by another of the brand’s compact cars - the Fiat Bravo. For us, that’s a dubious choice as even in its home market of Italy, the more upmarket Bravo has been outstripped by sales of the very utilitarian Fiat Punto. When buying a Fiat, most Italians themselves are more prepared to purchase lower in the line-up because once they’ve got to a Bravo, they’re more likely to switch to a German-branded car.

The British mag quotes Fiat’s brand head Laura Soaves as saying: “Fiat will be the small car brand. It will never have anything larger than a C [segment].” We can’t help wondering if that isn’t extremely limiting for the brand on the US car market. A big deal was made of debuting with the Fiat 500 but its successful sales must surely be put down to its style and image, and not its size. We’re in America after all.

According to the report, the model won’t necessarily be the Bravo as such, but rather a larger car that will replace it. Sergio Marchionne has said that it will be radically styled car and “not a traditional offering”, but we’d ask if the job of a larger Fiat Group vehicle isn’t better left to Alfa Romeo. Meanwhile, with the redesigning of the Alfa Giulia, apparently we’re still heading to the US for that brand with the Alfa 4C. It will still have to be good, though, and not just good looking.

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The new Alfa Romeo SUV, currently codenamed the C-SUV, could make production before the hotly anticipated Alfa 4C GTA sports car, although the off-roader could debut in the US after the sports car as Alfa tries to cash in on the fascination with Italian sports cars.

The Alfa SUV is seen as an important model in the company’s ambitious targets to increase its production and become a mass market model. In fact, it will join what is a small range made up of the MiTo, the new Giulietta, the soon to come Giulia sedan and the 4C.

According to Autocar, it will be built on Fiat’s Compact Plus Global Modular Architecture which is based on the Giulietta platform but is extended to support all-wheel drive. Engineers are hoping to produce an SUV with Alfa’s traditional sporty driving characteristics and the model will be offered in both front and all-wheel drive versions.

Alfa and Maserati SUV renderings

Continue reading: Alfa Romeo SUV and Maserati SUV renderings

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These new Alfa Romeo Giulia renderings from Autoblog.it arrive at a delicate time for the new Alfa sedan. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has ordered what is basically a complete Giulia redesign before this model is ready for the US car market Alfa offering. Overall, these renderings take their inspiration from the Alfa 8C Competizione which is widely known as a very attractive car, and borrows some of the Ferrari FF rear, too.

This particular Giulia rendering is a two-door job, making it more coupé than sedan and the front end could do with a little more work (although re-styling an Alfa nose can’t be an easy job). There have been no progressive details from Alfa as to how the new Giulia design is going and everything is under wraps at this stage so anything could be planned. We doubt Alfa will take a look at this, but if needs some inspiration this is just the latest Alfa Giulia rendering to turn to.

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The Alfa in the US saga has a new episode to add with reports from Italy that the first Alfa Romeo model in the US will be the highly anticipated 4C GTA which was presented at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show. While not in production yet, apparently the Alfa 4C Concept will make it to market in North America before even the much talked about Alfa Giulia and Alfa SUV.

As already previously stated by Sergio Marchionne, the Giulia needs to iron out some design issues before it’s ready for the US, and now it seems the Fiat CEO has decided to launch straight into what fans hope will be Alfa’s first real sports model in years. It could certainly prove to be quite the debut if the 4C GTA lives up to expectation.

This particular model means much to the brand right now. It was finally put on the stand at the Geneva show at 4am the same day it was revealed because technicians weren’t sure if it was ready yet - still, they made it to the most important motor show in the world. The new Alfa 4C GTA could be the only indication that Alfa is back to its sports prowess in the modern era and the brand has it got its vitality back. If it proves good, it will make a lot of sense to debut it first in the US. Hopefully followed by good product, all the same.

The Alfa 4C GTA will mean a lot to Italians. It will prove that their beloved brand isn’t just limping along trying to compete with decent models, but ones without any real Alfa spirit. It will show that Alfa can still produce a quality, two-seater sports car, whether you like the design or not, at the cutting edge of sports technology. And it will bring back the Alfa brand to the difficult US market to indicate that the Italians still know how to make fine cars. While we won’t hold our breath, it all makes sense so we’ll be waiting to hear more on this in the future.

Source | Autoblog.it

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It’s a busy news time at Fiat Spa, with Sergio Marchionne making statements left, right and centre over Bertone production facilities, the Alfa Romeo debut in the US and more on the Fiat-Chrysler partnership. Let’s have a look at what’s been happening recently.

• Fiat now has a 30 percent stake in Chrysler as reported by AutomotiveNews. It’s an important move in terms of the Fiat-Chrysler partnership and enables the Chrysler and Fiat brands to take advantage of various dealership options in the US and Brazil. Fiat will sell both badges in Europe while Latin American dealers will still carry Chrysler models.
• On the Fiat stake in Chrysler, Marchionne says: “We could be ready to increase the stake to 51 percent by June this year, but it will depend on the market and US trade unions.” The aim is to make that target by the end of this year, though, with money already set aside for the purpose.
• After reports that the Alfa Romeo US debut would be delayed until 2013, the guys at Autoblog.it say that the Alfa 2012 US debut date is being held, but for the new Alfa SUV to be developed. While the MiTo and Giulietta remain valid products for the Italian brand, the difficulty over a US debut is with the new Alfa Giulia sedan being developed. Marchionne says: “Americans don’t like the Giulia style and everything depends on whether we can fix the design problem. The MiTo and Giulietta are true Alfa models, we don’t want to get things wrong with the Giulia.”

Continue reading: Sergio Marchionne: Alfa Romeo in the US for 2012 and Maserati at Bertone

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Reports are that Fiat has planned sales of 50,000 Fiat 500 models in the US market when it turns up later this year. Those figures are good for 2011 as well, but that sounds like a lot of little cars in a big car market to us. The Fiat Group is planning not only ambitious sales targets (so it would seem), but also a comprehensive dealership plan to accommodate the re-appearance of Fiat brands on the US market.

Originally announcing that Fiat 500 models would occupy a kind of show-off corner in Chrysler showrooms, that plan changed recently to creating brand new Fiat dealerships in the US which will also eventually host new Alfa Romeo models arriving in 2012. 165 dealerships in metropolitan areas have since been announced but we wonder if they will all survive off the back of one model until other Alfa models turn up.

While the Fiat 500 will be sold in all its various versions, 50,000 sales and dedicated dealerships is a big responsibility to be shouldering. We can only hope that the US is ready for a wave of retro-appealing models and that Fiat and Alfa plans to re-enter the US market prove successful.

Source | Autoblog.it

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The Fiat-Chrysler merger had first indicated that Fiat products would appear in Chrysler dealerships and that particularly the Fiat 500 would occupy its own small, featured corner on showroom floors. It now appears, though, that Fiat will get its own dealerships in the US, according to CEO Sergio Marchionne himself, and that Fiat will have a strong presence of about 200 stores opening.

We’re a bit skeptical about investing these kinds of resources when there is already a wide network of Chrysler dealerships that could be harnessed. But reports say that current Chrysler dealers will have the first opportunity to purchase new stores, which will be fitted out with service departments, too.

This would indicate that more than just the Fiat 500 will be going stateside as clearly, it would be difficult to build an entire dealership around one compact car. It raises the question, though, as to exactly what models will appear, as previously the new Alfa MiTo and Alfa Giulietta have been denied, and we can’t see that Fiat would be in a rush to take the Punto across the Atlantic. Perhaps the new Alfa SUV…?

Source | Autoblog.com

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