Teh Car Blogz

One persistent rumor that has been floating around automotive circles for years and years is that the triumphant return to the United State of Alfa Romeo is just around the corner. I think perhaps we should pause and look back to when Alfa last sold cars in the US for a bit of perspective.

Alfa exited the US market in 1995 by basically cutting losses and running as fast as they could with their tail between their collective legs. The last car they sold here was the 164, a very expensive large sedan that wasn’t even reliable enough to get you to the dealership when something broke. They sold the Alfa Spider up until 1993, a poorly built and poorly handling two-door convertible for nearly $30,000 - when the Mazda Miata was selling in the mid-teens. No wonder nobody bought Alfa Romeos back then; they were garbage.

They’ve been saying Alfa is coming back since… Ohh, I dunno. 2004. In 2004 it was “Alfa will be back in 2006!” 2006 came and went, no Alfa Romeo was to be found. Now they’re saying fourth quarter 2008. I’ll believe it when I see it.

My big question is, though, what’s the point? Current Alfa’s don’t really have any better of a reputation for reliability in Europe than they did in America back in the 90’s. They are sort of known for having random bits of plastic floating around in the footwell, and annoying problems like a gas cap door that won’t open or a particular wheel that eats wheel bearings every 15,000 miles. I mean honestly, no thanks. The only way America ever excepts the piss-poor build quality of Italian cars is when they are ridiculously beautiful and exotic - no one cares that a Murcielago goes through clutches every 20,000 miles and they are ten grand to replace - it’s a Lamborghini. But in a $30,000 compact sedan? I really think it would get old quickly, and people would go back to buying Lexuses and BMW’s like they did before.
Then there’s the question of: where would they sell them? The plan now is to offer them through Ferrari/Maserati dealerships, which, as you may have noticed, are not exactly in high supply. For instance, if I bought an Alfa, I’d have to drive all the way to Greensboro to get it worked on. That’s about an hour and a half away.

Sure, it’s hard to get passed the fact that Alfas are hotter than Keira Knightly in see-through underwear. I mean, just look at the 159: Mmmmph. But you know, deep down in your heart of hearts, that they are overpriced crap.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 8:24 pm and is filed under Car Theory, Thought Of The Day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.