Marchionne Gives North America Priority Over Europe for Alfa Romeo's Future Plans

Fiat-Chrysler CEO, Sergio Marchionne, announced that he will appoint a boss for the Alfa Romeo brand exclusively for the North American market. This is because the Italian carmaker’s return to the US after a 17-year absence will be his top priority, relegating Europe, in which Alfa’s sales are disappointing, to second place.

“We are going to target the US market first and work our way back to Europe”, Marchionne said in an interview with Autonews Europe. “We have run market tests on the desirability of the Alfa brand in the US and, not withstanding our long absence from the market it’s still one of the best brands in the world. I think we need to go back and grab it.”

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Alfa UK Adds New Turbo Engines and Special Version to Brera and Spider Range

Following the unveiling of the new 200HP 1750 TBi petrol and 170HP 2.0 JTDM diesel powerplants in the 159 range late last year, Alfa Romeo UK is now adding the two engines to the Brera coupé and Spider convertible range.

In addition to the new powerplants, the company is also introducing to the UK market the new limited edition trim level "Italia Independent" on both derivatives of the sports car.

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Alfa Romeo's 2010-2014 Product Plans Include New Giulia and Spider, but no Succesor for Brera. U.S. Sales Start in 2012

Here we go again; the Fiat Group today announced plans to revive Alfa Romeo with a raft of new models that will also play a key role in the relaunch of the brand in the U.S. market (how many times have we heard that before?) by 2013.

Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne said that Alfa Romeo will launch seven new models from 2010 to 2014 starting with the new Giulietta that will receive an extensive facelift in 2014.

The next newcomer from Alfa will be a replacement for its BMW 3-Series rivaling 159 that will be named Giulia.

Set to arrive in 2012, the Giulia will be based on an existing Fiat platform (most likely, a wider and longer version of the Guilietta's new platform). It will be offered in four-door sedan and station wagon variants and according to the plan, it will mark the return of the Alfa Romeo brand in the States.

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