Alfa Romeo aims high for its return to North America, Kumar Saha says,
Aggressive sales plan meant to rev up carmaker’s return to North American market
What do Benjamin Braddock (of The Graduate), James Bond and Michael Corleone all have in common?
Movie characters aside, they have all at some point during their screen time added iconic value to the Alfa Romeo badge by driving around in this motorized slice of la dolce vita. But that was the ’60s. Or the ’70s. At the time, Alfas held some public mindshare on this side of the Atlantic. You could still get them in North America, although they never sold much. About 4,000 to 5,000 during peak years in the U.S., and definitely much, much less in Canada.
That’s why Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) CEO Sergio Marchionne’s recently announced target of selling 150,000 Alfas a year in North America by 2018 (and about 400,000 globally) got the industry chuckling. Premium brands such as BMW and Mercedes come in a little under 400,000 in U.S. and Canada, after years of developing brand and retail footprint. Isn’t the Alfa goal a little presumptuous?
But I get Marchionne’s play here. The sales target is obviously an attention-grabber, a hashtag generator, something to get tongues wagging about the return of Alfas to North America.
Parent company FCA is already prepping the markets. Canada currently has six Alfa dealers, with three in Ontario. Fifteen have been planned by end of 2015.
FCA Canada CEO Reid Bigland is also the guy responsible for Alfa Romeo. He personally showcased the Alfa 4C sports model — priced between $62,000 and $76,000 in Canada — at the Toronto auto show earlier this year. Marchionne launched Alfa’s flagship Giulia last week.
FCA plans to spend $6 billion on the brand and intends to bring eight new models by 2018 — most of which should be available in North America.
Alfa is not aiming for the exotic segment, according to reports. Rather, it wants to be the Italian alterna- tive to German premium. Hence, the aggressive sales goal.
Look, Alfas are great cars. Along with Fiat, the brand’s sleek genetics played a huge role in making Chrysler cool again.
And, for those looking to stand out in a heavily crowded German or Japanese luxury market, Alfas will provide the opportunity to go Italian without paying Maserati or Ferrari prices.
And, 150,000 may be less than half of what German brands sell in North America every year, but Alfas would struggle to get there. I think a more realistic target could be 70,000 to 80,000 cars by 2020.
Not sure about Marchionne, but I would definitely call that a success.
Sales aside, Alfas should really focus on creating a unique customer experience. Maybe take a page from the Tesla handbook. Lots of showrooming to get people excited about the brand, to create a halo effect. Create a more digitized, futuristic experience at dealerships. Attract customers with great after-sales features in order to beat BMW at its own game.
Brands rarely get the chance to completely reinvent themselves.
In that sense, Alfa is uniquely positioned. It’s been gone from the market long enough so that most new buyers have no reference point. At the same time, it can draw on its historical oomph to lure customers.
Do I hear an achtung? Freelance writer Kumar Saha is a Toronto-based automotive analyst with global research firm Frost & Sullivan. For more Toronto Star Wheels stories, go to thestar.com/autos. To reach Wheels Editor Norris McDonald:
The Alfa Romeo is not aiming for the exotic segment; it wants to be the Italian alternative to German premium