Earlier today, Mr. Sergio Marchionne laid out Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ (FCA) optimistic product plan bonanza for the next four years, just like the Italian company has been doing annually for all of its brands well before getting its hands on the Chrysler group.
Amongst the most ambitious announcements concerns ailing Italian brand Alfa Romeo, which will supposedly see an influx of cash (€5 billion or US$7 billion) for the design, development and launch of seven new models through 2018.
Funny thing is that, we’ve kept track of all of Fiat’s product plans and let’s just say that, when it comes to Alfa Romeo, the automaker has made more promises than a used car salesman on a slow Saturday afternoon or a teenage boy on prom night…
We’ve heard everything from a brand new Alfa Romeo 169 saloon to compete against the BMW 5-Series and a compact crossover coming to a store near you in 2009 to a new Giulia sedan and station wagon going on sale in the U.S. in the year 2012 (well, if the Mayans were wrong, we guess Marchionne can be too). If you look at Alfa’s website now, the only models you see is the new 4C and two hatchbacks, the MiTo supermini and the Giulietta sub-compact.
FCA even went as far as to make an official joint announcement with Mazda in January of 2013 for the development of an Alfa Romeo Spider based on the underpinnings of the next MX-5 roadster that would be built in Japan, only to retract about a year later with Marchionne stating that Alfas should only be made in Italy and that the sports model could wear a different badge after all…
So, you’ll excuse us if we remain skeptical about anything related to product plans from Alfa Romeo – at least until we see the cars in the flesh and not just on some low quality PDF presentation file for investors.
By John Halas
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