Marchionne to focus Alfa at U.S. market ahead of Europe

Alfa Romeo has been known to be prepping for a big reentry into the US market after almost a 20-year absence. And to follow up on these efforts, Fiat’s CEO Sergio Marchionne has announced some details regarding their strategies.

Marchionne started off by announcing that he will be appointing a new boss for the North American branch of Alfa Romeo by the end of 2012. This move will allow the process of reestablishing the Italian brand in the US much easier he added.

“We are going to target the U.S. market first and work our way back into Europe,” Marchionne said in an interview. “We have run market tests on the desirability of the Alfa brand in the U.S. and — notwithstanding our long absence from the market — it’s still one of the best brands in the world, and I think we need to go back and grab it.”

To add to the influx of new information, a separate interview was conducted with Chrysler Group’s head of network development and fleet, Peter Grady. He added that with Fiat back in the US already, the corporation plans on offering a completely different dealership network for Alfa Romeo to aid in expansion and awareness.

Lastly, despite Alfa Romeo’s slumping sales in the European markets, Marchionne has been hard at work with all of the participating companies to help streamline Fiat SpA’s production, which is something they hope will decrease production costs and increase sales.

– By: Chris Chin

Source: Automotive News