jpb, i am this close to handing the necc's a$$ to him. i will ignore him because a) i respect this forum (even if he doesnt respect me), and B) i would rather not see inter-club relationships get set back 5-yrs because of a neanderthal.
likewise, zoakies et al, pls just ignore the necc from now on. he's deprived of attention and this is the only way he knows how to get it. he and the f.man can have at it. their exchanges are always entertaining.
back to the topic - during milan auto days, alfas were underdeclared and that was a boon to all alfa lovers. we got our cars at significantly lower prices than the other european marques. we all know what happened to MA because of that. sime darby now has to be above board and declare and price accordingly. all over the world, alfas are priced 10-15% lower than bmws and that will be the trend here as well.
will it work to help alfa sell more cars? i dont know. do i like it as an alfisti who hopes to one day upgrade to a newer alfa - heck, no! any dreams i may have of owning a GTA just got 50k further away.
but that's the fact of life and its up to sime auto italia to deal with it. they've been in operation for a few weeks now so its still too soon to tell if their strategy will work or not (unless one of u have the gift of foresight, in which case im dumping my sime darby shares).
one the one hand, i hope it doesnt work cos i would like to see lower prices for alfas. on the other, the very survival of the company depends on the success of the plan. italian car makers have been in trouble for many yrs now and most are money pits due to poor management. sure they make lovely cars, but reputation is poor, resale is in the toilet, and parts and dealer networks are shitty at best.
we're hoping the new guy at alfa (ex-bmw guy) can turn things around. the strategy looks familiar already: if the world wants bmws, we'll give them bmws. gone are some of the signature quirkiness of previous alfas, being replaced by more accessible and practical features popular on german cars like bimmers and mercs. this is evident not only in the ergonomics of the car, but also in the performance and drivability of the new engines.
again, will it work? dunno. we'll have to wait and see. but the same way porsche stalwarts screamed bloody murder when porsche did away with the air-cooled boxers and introduced electronic driver aids, there will always be some diehard alfisti who will complain that modern alfas are a joke and not "real" alfas at all (some already claimed that when alfa moved to FWD). but like how the modern porsches - 996, 997, boxster - are selling better than the previous generations, the current alfas - 156 & 147 - are selling better than any of the previous generations before.
at the end of the day, id rather have a watered down alfa than no alfa at all.
redd
