Anything goes - All Comments

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

Aviva CC 1st XI — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:05:12 GMT

Mark,

This sort of sensationalism really grinds my gears. The difference between the cars in question is negligable at most. This sort of petty, sub standard journalism would be far better suited to the local press and not to a well respected national institution. Surely a better point of discussion would ponder your thoughts on the newly unveiled Ferrari FXX?

Warmest regards

re: Merc 190E - The ultimate recession wheels?

DuncanC — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:08:17 GMT

I've recently bought myself a 190E 2.0 auto as well. It's a 1992, 93,000 miles with no rust for just £500. So far I've done 5,000 miles with not a penny spent other than petrol, about time for a service now though. Certainly would reccommend to anyone.

re: Merc 190E - The ultimate recession wheels?

Steelydan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:42:37 GMT

You've just been lucky. Wait till something really goes pop and you're faced with the decision of sending to the scrap heap or stumping up a £1k bill. It WILL happen.

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

brinardi — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:53:23 GMT

I think this is simply a piece of economic pragmatism from Marchionne. The relaunching of Alfa in the US would doubtless involve a hefty marketing spend so using the Dodge name to sell rebadged Alfas would allow Fiat to sidestep the brand-building stage. I don't think we'll be seeing Alfa-branded Dodges over here somehow though...

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

montgomery — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:47:36 GMT

"Oh, I dunno. There are some similarities between the brands. They're both just as poorly made as each other, for one! "

Yawn..........

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

Nicko22 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:43:44 GMT

Oh, I dunno. There are some similarities between the brands. They're both just as poorly made as each other, for one!

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

A R Chen — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:01:46 GMT

Could it be perhaps that some of the message was lost in the translation from Italian to English, or had Marchionne actually been speaking in English, which in itself could cause a misunderstanding or two?

I must agree with Mark from the perspective that I do not see a buyer considering an Alfa-Romeo, also considering a Dodge/Chrysler as a close alternative.

Unless the Chrysler Crossfire is considered a close rival to the Alfa Romeo Brera, or the Chrysler 300C is considered a Alfa Romeo 166 rival. In these last 2 examples, it is probably the old Mercedes-Benz underpinnings that would place the Chryslers in contention in the first place.

With their current lineup, Chrysler's range has very limited appeal outside of the Americas. Even in Australia, where Chrysler once had rivals to the Ford Falcon and full-size Holdens, Chrysler now offers a rebadged Mitsubishi sedan instead!

Interestingly, both brands struggle to exist in Asia, which is where the fastest sales growth is going to be in the next decade.

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

sportwagon — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:42:03 GMT

Dodge muscle cars? The only really iconic American muscle cars were the Mustang and the GTO. Surely Dodge are only known for are large pick-up trucks for builders and people who pretend to be cowboys at the weekend.

By all means use Fiat underpinnings to replace the present lack-lustre car range, but surely the economies of scale come from reducing the number of brands, eg GM.

So how about : Fiat - down to earth good value cars with a bit of character, Alfa Romeo - sporting cars with a lot of character, Chrysler - large cars for the US market, Dodge - trucks SUVs. This covers all the main market segments with no overlap and leaves each brand with a clear identity.

I am available to help develop this idea, my vast fee would soon appear a bargain!

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

Fred Dagg — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:05:51 GMT

Alpha :(

Alfa :)

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

jackjflash — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:58:16 GMT

Chrysler has been wandering in the wilderness for a long time, I find it odd that Daimler owned them but takes no responsibility or blame for the state the company was in when they left town under cover of darkness. The bean counters who took over were just patching a sinking ship, harvesting what they could without regard for the employees or company in general. Who knows how this will pan out; if they utilize the engineers and workforce and everyone contributes it could work. If Fiat were to squash every suggestion out of hand and supply hand me down platforms like Merc did they are sure to fail. That being said I can’t think of one car in the Chrysler lineup that I would want to see in Europe. A new platform with Italian flair and American muscle would be very interesting indeed, I‘ll take my Alpha spider with a hemi please.

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

david RS — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:14:41 GMT

Thank you to have spoken about the Alfa Arna! I don't remember it in France...

It was chronologically between the Alfasud and the 33.

It was based on a Nissan with Alfasud engines (dixit Wiki...)

Later the '33' were based on the Alfasud.

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

glorfindel — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:01:58 GMT

OMG. My comment was so bad-written... Sorry!

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

glorfindel — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:52:12 GMT

I Marchionne was speaking of Dodge of the future: his intentions is to built new cars more coherent with a sporty-image of the Dodge brand. Doing this would put Dodge very close to Alfa.

And I think he is really right.

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

Pol Medhi — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 17:19:03 GMT

Dodge and Alfa Romeo are like chalk and cheese. But what I think is Mr Marchionne is being clever by 'similarising' the brands. That is because Dodge is at the wrong end of the eco-spectrum and he wants to slow poison Dodge somehow. Never-the-less what I really want is that all future Alfas must be high quality cars with rear-wheel drive standard and I am including the Mito as well. If Fiat cannot do that then Mr Marchionne its time you put Alfa on the block.

re: A Dodge Mito or an Alfa Romeo Nitro, sir?

Mark Tisshaw — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:49:14 GMT

Good point. I think the car market that emerges out of the current financial situation is going to be all about cost and compromise.

This will certainly be the case with Fiat. But Fiat shouldn't be messing around with brands like Alfa. A Dodge/Lanica tie-up would make far more sense in my eyes.

But I trust Marchionne will make the right call. As you rightly point out, Alfa Nitros aren't likely.

It's going to be a very interesting story to follow, not least because of the passion and loyalty shown to brands such as Dodge and Alfa.