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VW boss Piech says he could quadruple Alfa Romeo sales

By Brett Davis |

Volkswagen Chairman, Ferdinand Piech, recently told the automotive press that if Fiat would allow Volkswagen to purchase Alfa Romeo, it could quadruple current Alfa sales.

Volkswagen has been trying to buy Alfa Romeo off Fiat for some time now and the urge is still there. Piech recently spoke out about his projected targets at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show.

Piech said that Volkswagen could revive the falling sales of Alfa from the current annual sales figure of around 112,000, up to 400,000 units per year within just five years.

Fiat boss, Sergio Marchionne, has previously warned that he will not sell Alfa Romeo though, saying

“As long as I am CEO of Chrysler and Fiat, Mr. Piech will never have Alfa Romeo”.

Mr Marchionne has said that Mr Piech should concentrate on SEAT and fix its sales problems before looking to Alfa. Despite this, Mr Marchionne has also said that since he has been at the helm of Fiat, Alfa Romeo has been a “money loser”, saying in a recent interview with Forbes,

“I’m not sure if it ever really made any money.”

According to official February VFACTS figures, Alfa Romeo in Australia hasn’t been doing too bad. This time last year, Alfa Romeo vehicles made up 0.1 percent of the market, this year, the company makes up 0.2 percent with sales going from 164 year-to-date in 2010 to 218 in 2011.

On the whole though, Alfa sales have dropped in larger markets like Europe and the US. The company will need to something soon, but a German Alfa, what do you think?


 
  • cocnut

    alfa romeo styling with audi quality…. will be a good match.

    • Kerrigan Bros

      And it’ll break down like a VW

      • Dean

        You can’t think that Alfa reliability is any better

      • Golfschwein

        Yeah, my Golf left me stranded once. So have brand new Camry and Commodore company cars, an old Torana and 2 Peugeots. The long and short of it is that I’d be here for an hour writing about the stuff that’s gone wrong with cars over 29 years.

        Only a Hi Lux ran faultlessly for the year I had it, and I hated it more than anything. The Golf’s my favourite. You can’t measure that stuff, and it does some people’s heads in on this site. Things can go wrong with any car. That’s why they have bonnets and service departments.

        • Freddo

          You can count it in money and how man times you have to take it in to get fixed

  • Ox

    If you need proof that VW can do Italian sucessfully just take a look at what they’ve done with Lambo. I’m all for it.

  • Nath746

    Golf R Engine, Volkswagen All-Wheel-Drive, Alfa GT Body…

  • Westie

    Another soulless VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat/etc clone with a pretty body and an Alfa badge?
    VAG just wants to sell more Golf platforms, regardless of the badge on the bonnet.
    And I wouldn’t go on too much about VW quality. Percieved interior quality has been great, but the oily bits (and the electronic bits) have let the side down too often.
    Say, big company chasing world domination has quality disasters. Haven’t we been here before? Leyland, Ford, GM, Toyota…
    Not that Alfas have been a shining light, but at least they’re headed in the right direction.

    • Princess

      Oh wow a bogan that knows EVERYTHING.

  • Hansome_AL

    Well I don’t see a problem there.. They should I guess.. Because reliability record shows that at least VW is better than Fiat and Alfa Romeo.. So it is a plus at least in reliability sector.. In term of design and platform which many people are worried about… Well VW creates cars from Golf, to Audi R8, to Lamborghini, to Bugatti Veyron. So I guess they know what they are doing with their design and platform.. Well let’s face it.. If VW Golf platform is so damn good… why can’t it be fixed to any other cars.. it is just sad that the name is “VW Golf platform” so people think less of it.. How about if the name is change into “Lamborghini Platform” and fit into a golf.. Of course it sounds much better, but isn’t it at the end the same if Lamborghini is fitted with Golf Platform.. If possible anyway.. but you get my idea..

    So for you people that worrying about the future of Alfa, rest assured that the current Lambo is nothing like a VW golf so you will be fine with its design language, and for the sake of its reliability… C’mon VW reliability is much better than Fiat/Alfa.. Please do not compare it with Toyota.. Do you want Toyota to buy alfa instead?? and for share of platform.. C’mon.. if it’s a good platform, why not… and most important thing is.. VW will not sell VW Golf badged as Alfa Romeo.. and now that is wrong…

  • bangel

    Alfa is already platform sharing with crappy fiats and thats the problem .

    The future no doubt will throw in some “dodgy ” chrysler platforms too .

    VAG sees a brand name that could produce dollars if given a better base to work off .

  • SZQ

    the perfect combo is german engineering combined with italian styling

  • Shak

    This guy is going to get a very good hiding soon. Fiat Group CEO has warned him off Alfa and he persists. It would be a good combo though.

    • bangel

      Yes sell it to GM they good at stuffing good brands .

      While its in fiats hands nothing will improve .

      • Shak

        I agree with you, i am just saying that this man needs to stop acting like a spoilt child and asking for what he cant have.

  • Adrian

    People on here keep regugitating the old line that VW/Audi (german) is more reliable than Fiat/Alfa (italian). This may have been true 10 or 15 years ago but show me the proof that this is still true today. I don’t believe it!!!

  • Flying High

    Maybe Alfa should just make a car that is exciting to drive instead of the underpowered FWD shopping carts that make up so much of their offerings. I cannot think of a single sub 70K Alfa worth considering.

    • Paulo

      Do you even think – full stop?

    • Shak

      haha, you make me laugh…

  • Qikturbo

    Oh dear,the leech that is VW must be running out of ideas and needs to take over ANOTHER car company to siphon fresh
    ones.

    Jeremy Clarkson was right….the Germans do want to take over the world.

  • lukaas

    Im surprise why none of the Japanese OEMs or US OEMs make a splash and disrupt VW’s European dominance by buying out Alfa Romeo from Fiat… or doing a partnership with Fiat.

    It’ll only benefit the cars they manufacture by sharing knowledge/know how, designs etc.

  • cooch

    Yet a VW is not an Alfa and never will be. It will be the end of the real Alfa Romeo if VW buys in. We do not need another car for hairdressers and punters like Flying High.
    Please stay away VW otherwise I won’t know what my next car purchase will be.

  • nemo

    It’s funny to see people who know nothing about what they are talking about, writing only heard about..
    XD

  • http://N/A Carmel Cauchi

    I cannot agree with the writer of your leading

    article who writes that Alfa decreased its sales

    in Europe and the USA, far from it if you take the

    principal markets like the UK, France and Germany

    sales have substainialy increased with other markets

    trailing in the same direction. As far as the USA

    is concerned it is only one expensive model that was

    imported and the edition was limited. So I ask from

    where did he bring his statistics.