Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing, Alfa Romeo
Alfa may buy closed factory from Big 3 for U.S. production
The Italians are coming, the Italians are coming! And when they get here in the guise of Alfa Romeo, they will be looking for a factory where the 8C and other cars wearing the cross and serpent can be built. Alfa is looking at two options regarding a U.S.-based factory: buy one of GM, Ford, or Chrysler's closed factories, or expand a Case New Holland factory.
Case New Holland, which is actually owned by Alfa, makes agricultural machinery and construction equipment. It already has 11 plants in the U.S., and Alfa could simply expand one of them to make cars. The plant, a location for which will be selected in May, will begin churning out Alfas in 2011 or 2012. At capacity, production is expected to be around 150,000 cars for the North American and European markets. Alfa Romeo will decide on the distribution network and particular vehicles to be made within three months, which makes it sound as if the Italians are definitely coming.
[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ckm 3:39PM (3/31/2008)
I don't think they are going to make the 8C here, whereever they decide to setup a factory....
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TyWright 3:46PM (3/31/2008)
Highly doubt the 8C will be built stateside.
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Throwback 4:00PM (3/31/2008)
Probably the MiTo and the 159. Hopefully some Abarths as well, one can dream.
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Nick 4:00PM (3/31/2008)
Case New Holland is NOT owned by Alfa; it is owned by the Fiat Group.
Alfa is a subsidiary of the renamed "Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A" - just as Lancia, Fiat Professional, Maserati and the Fiat brand are.
Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A itself is a subsidiary of the Fiat Group -- which means that Fiat Group Automobiles, S.p.A and Case New Holland are both subsidiaries of the larger Fiat Group.
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J. D. Billiford 4:05PM (3/31/2008)
>>> This is great news. Especially, if it will offer employment opportunities for the folks living in the selected area.
Like the saying goes, "Good business is where you find it."
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Scott 4:09PM (3/31/2008)
I hope they choose Flint, MI. God knows that area could use some economic stimulation.
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policyvote 4:27PM (3/31/2008)
ATTENTION JENNIFER GRANHOLM:
GET ON THE STICK.
Peace
policy
Scott 10:42PM (3/31/2008)
Damn right we need it in Flint!
They could buy Buick City. Oh, yeah, GM tore that down. Maybe Chevy-in-the-Hole? Nope, that one's gone too. Coldwater Rd? Nope, long gone. Maybe even the unused portions of Flint East? No dice, that's coming down in the next month too.
So we're pretty much screwed on that one too.
that said, I hope we've still got something left here in Michigan to sell them - the entire state needs a boost, so i won't limit those hopes merely to Flint.
Allan 4:09PM (3/31/2008)
Can't wait to see what actually comes to market here. Especially if we get a MiTo!
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Dausman 4:44PM (3/31/2008)
Look at the article about the Alpha MiTo in the latest edition of the internet magazine, Winding Road.
Click on the article about the MiTo under SPY SHOTS.
Think the article will make you happy.
Nice looking little car.
scott 5:13PM (3/31/2008)
Good point about Granholm. Mich should be trying to pounce on any opportunity like this.
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Disgruntled Goat 5:39PM (3/31/2008)
So are these Italian cars the same steaming piles they were 25 years ago? The last time they tried selling cars here they basically got run out of town on a rail. I'll always love them though, if for no other reason than because compared to an Italain or French car, even a '83 Cavalier was a good bet.
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Rick C. 5:56PM (3/31/2008)
The 'steaming piles' as you put it where no better or worse than similarly equipped vehicles from the given time period. Ford and Chevys of the era rusted just as badly.
DKB_SATX 6:46PM (3/31/2008)
The biggest problem with low-volume imports marques, as pointed out by psarhjinian many times on these sorts of postings, wasn't as much the quality of the car itself as compared to its competition, but the availability of parts and service.
Modern Alfas are quite nice cars, and really quite like American cars in the fact that they depreciate quickly with respect to their competition and can be gotten used for great deals. They're unlike most American cars in that they're attractively shaped and oriented toward the driver. I'll certainly look into the 159 Sportwagon or its successor if it's offered here when my Legacy GT starts to get long in the tooth. I wanted an Alfa 147 while I was working in Italy (I was working there when it was introduced) but my innate cheapness saved me. I bought an old Fiat and took less of a hit when my employer went out of business and I had to sell it.
shiftright 9:03PM (3/31/2008)
Your ignorance is truly and fully exposed. There was more technology, innovation and rich motorsports history in one suspension corner of any Alfa than there ever was in amy GM car, much less a Cavalier. You simply can't criticize ANY European car on any level in comparison to the atrocities American manufacturers were inflicting on the mass populace 25 years ago. Those companies survived only because there were a lot of patriotic but ignorant people who bought underengineered aesthetic vomit because it was American.
shiftright 9:04PM (3/31/2008)
They didn't exactly get run out of town. The small sales volumes simply didn't justify the overhead. Alfas were never bad cars, but they were finicky and had weaknesses like all other cars. Unfortunately Alfa never invested in the post sales experience, and any minor problem was soon exarcebated by incompetent dealers ( I speak from experience). They also never paid much attention to the market demands, and built cars few Americans 'got' or wanted. They had a great product when it left the US market in '95 with the 164, possibly the most suited product for the American market, but it received virtually no marketing support, and by then it was too late anyway.
Shiftright 9:20PM (3/31/2008)
I'm sorry to go on, but the mere mention of a Cavalier in any comparison to any Alfa is more idiocy then anyone should bear. Here are some comparisons between two sports cars from GM and Alfa in '84 with similar displacement: Pontiac Fiero 2.5l:iron block and head, pushrods, carburated, 88 hp. Suspension:yes, I think so, Chevette based, essentially reversed, made of wood (or at least felt like it.) Alfa GTV6: 2.5l all aluminum SOHC wet sleeve V6, sodium filled exhaust valves, hemispherical combustion chambers, electronic fuel injection, 160 hp. Suspension: REAR: de Dion Transaxle (hey, just like the new 'Vette'!), inboard disc brakes, FRONT: lower wishbones & torsion bars. Most everyone has forgotten the utter turds GM made back then, and that is truly for the best.
Anders 5:47PM (3/31/2008)
The limited production run of the 8C has already been sold out. Bearing that in mind, there's more chance of Oldsmobile coming back from the dead than the 8C being manufactured in America
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Mal Fuller 7:09PM (3/31/2008)
Too bad they don't locate their assembly line in the old AMC plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin. I'm not sure it's still standing, but if so, there's got to be a good sized workforce available in the area.
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Shiftright 1:19AM (4/01/2008)
Justin, displacement is exactly what determines engine size, not cylinder count. An engine's displacement is the total combined swept volume of its cylinders. I wanted to illustrate how GM managed to get only roughly half the horsepower out of the same engine size as the Alfa.