lately we all have been following masiguy (aka tim jackson) odissey with his car.
to summerize his saturn decided to stop its service and apparently the customer care and the dealer were not able to fix it but get some money anyway.
tim, who is known for being a very nice person, got rather upset, to say the least.
and he is right.
few time ago i posted this comment about car dealers and the poor follow up to sales
http://bizandbuzz.blogspot.com/2006/10/have-you-ever-thought-at-
car-retailer.html#links
while i give all my support to tim and cross my fingers not to face such a nigthmare, i got this article from financial times talking about this issue.
sergio marchionne, the very successful ceo of fiat, the man who brought back fiat from hell and gave a boost to the whole company, gave the new brief about the relaunch of alfa romeo and the key issue of the dealers after sales support.
the process started in uk, where apparently the situation is more challenging and then will be extended to other european countries and to us.
alfa romeo is one of the most renowned brand in automotive market across the world. in the past they produced cars such as the duetto, the stylish spider. its brand is linked to fast sport cars, to the race. see the brera coupè.
why this is so crucial from an italian point of view?
- fiat is the real last big industrial company in our country
- it has a long history of being technically a failure
- it appeared to be oriented to cash as soon as possible than to invest in r&d
- did not market some great tech innnovation born there ( the common rail diesel was a fiat patent)
- this approach marks a real turnaround in the italian mentality
am i too optimistic?
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6 comments:
Gianandrea,
Following the movie "The Graduate," every young American male wanted an Alfa Romeo. But when we made our wish come true (not me but several of my friends), we discovered that we had to become mechanics to keep them running.
Of course, that was four decades ago and Americans have short memories. If Mr. Marchionne keeps the Alfa Romeo's great sylishness and installs an engine that keeps runs and needs little to no maintenance, who knows what can happen?
lewis, yes the graduate was the movie which launched alfa romeo in the us. the duetto is still a dream car for few aficionados. i'm rather confident that marchionne will succeed.
Hey G ... I am an Alfa lover ... have had a 156 for the past 4 years and it has been very reliable (tough wood). It was billed as the model that had a breakthrough in reliability -- and it has been true in my case.
I LOVE Alfas! I wanted one so bad. They sponsored a small pro team here in the states too and the team looked hot on their De Rosa bikes and Alfa cars... man I wanted to get on that team so bad (but was far too slow).
Italian cars are so classicly italian with their sense of style, grace, beauty and elegance. I was there for two weeks last summer and just drooled over the cars. Loved them. I too hope that FIAT and Alfa can regain their greatness and really become powerhouses. My personal favorite though; the old Bugati cars.
Thanks also for the mention (and your comments) of my car saga. Depressing, but in the end merely a bunch of metal and plastic. Nothing bad happened in the end and I am trying to simply move on... though it is proving difficult.
tim, it's a pleasure to have you back. at the end of the day you are right: we are talking about an assembly of plastic and metal. but when this bunch is made with passion, you can feel it. that's why, even beautifully crafted and technically advanced, i do not like cars as audi or bmw: too cold to me.
Hello and glad to find your blog. Here’s a relevant article related Alfa Romeos that I wrote a while ago – I thought it might be a good read on your blog as well:
Alfa Romeo Tuning – The Ultimate Options and Results
Alfa Romeo is, most definitely a brand that represents a wide range of different car models with the same stylish personality and a great deal of potential. We might say about these cars that they are pretty close to perfection and, in some cases, the tuning and optimizing procedures can help them actually become the perfect, dream cars.
How to Improve an Alfa Romeo Car
Besides the great selection of companies that are specialized in tuning procedures in general that would be delighted to transform a capable, powerful Alfa Romeo car into an even more powerful one, there are numerous companies that are strictly specialized in Alfa Romeo tuning and the results can be quite surprising. But tuning does not need to be so spectacular and expensive. Alfa Romeo parts and accessories can be found, transformed and changed quite easily. Most car owners that are in search of new ways of improving their car are mainly focused on getting extra power. What can be done in the case of Alfa Romeo? For instance, the first step when wanting to boost the power is to add to the Alfa Romeo car an air filter and a sports exhaust, together with a fuel pressure boost valve – and these solutions are quite affordable, too.
Optimized Examples of Alfa Romeo Tuning
One of the best and most impressive Alfa Romeo tuning examples is represented by the optimized version of the elegant Alfa Romeo Brera, a car named Autodelta Brera J5 3,2 C - the name Autodelta stands for the British tuning company that managed to do such a great job and, furthermore, the “J” letter symbolizes its exclusive feature and hand-made, customized features. But don’t think that this was an easy job – after all, transforming the classier standard Alfa Romeo Brera into this dream car for speed lovers took more than one year. But what is so spectacular about this car? First of all, the engine is brand new and it is at high standards: Arese V6, which has a power of 400 CP, with JTS technology. Moreover, this optimized car can achieve the 100km/hour target in 5,3 seconds and can go up to 270 km/hour. As for the tires, these are Dunlop SP Sport Maxx, with 19 inch rims.
Alfa Romeo brand made quite a spectacular comeback since 2001, when the Alfa Romeo 147 was released on the market. Specialists claimed that this particular car has a strong personality, a very aesthetic body and a silent, yet powerful engine. Since then, more and more customers and car lovers admire the elegance, but also the force and power of these cars. And now, with the wide range of Alfa Romeo tuning possibilities, these cars can be optimized and personalized as the owner desires. Further resources on the following Alfa models are also available: Alfa Romeo GTV, Alfa Romeo 155 parts, Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Alfa Romeo 146 spare parts and Alfa Romeo 8C .
Regards,
Michael S.
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