mlstephens.com » Cars

Chrysler Dealers to hear pitch from Fiat

mlstephens — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:01:23 +0000

Chrysler dealers to meet in Detroit to hear Fiat pitch | detnews.com

So the real news in this story is that Fiat will require Chrysler dealers to have a separate facility for Fiat (and future Alfa Romeo) sales. This is good strategy. The Chrysler target customer and the Fiat customer are two very distinct individuals, and I’d imagine there is little crossover (no pun). I have to believe that this is also to position for the re-introduction of Alfa Romeo in 2012. If they have committed dealers the Fiat and Alfa may have a chance in the USA. Maybe the Fiat 500 introduction later this year is a way for Fiat to get their feet on the growing before the much bigger effort needed to launch Alfa Romeo.

By requiring the capital investment in a separate facility they take a big step towards making sure that the dealers who are adding the brand are fully committed to it’s success. This was a mistake made in the 1990s and it is good to see that at least they have learned that lesson. Now it will be interesting to see the marketing commitment and effort from Fiat that will actually persuade buyers to purchase one.

Ferrari F40 and a 60 Hour Restorative Detail

mlstephens — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 02:54:10 +0000

Auto detailing done right is tedious and challenging work. This is a fine example of how a master completes a job. Certainly a few tips can be gleaned from how a sixty (!) hour job was required to clean up this stunning Ferrari F40. Personally I use products from GriotsGarage.com but there are certainly other great quality suppliers out there. The key is in how the products are used. Learn the process and the products are really secondary. Man does that red look fantastic…

via detailedimage.com. Click for full story.

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Alfa Romeo at 100

mlstephens — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:14:01 +0000

via news.google.com

“Yet if it is Alfa Romeo for whom the birthday cake has been baked, it seems a lot of Americans do care — particularly the enthusiasts, collectors and racing fans who hold that Italian marque especially close to their hearts. Young people, whose Alfa exposure has mainly been to rusty 1980s convertibles on American streets, may not understand. But for baby boomers who remember the Duetto that Dustin Hoffman drove in the hit 1967 film “The Graduate,” or hard-core enthusiasts who know all about Alfa’s win at Le Mans in 1938, the mystique lives on.

Who cares? It seems that the organizers of the year’s top automotive concours events do. Alfa Romeo will be a featured marque at the prestigious Concours d’Élégance at Pebble Beach in California in August. Alfa will be celebrated at many other classic-car events this summer, including the Concorso Italiano near Monterey, Calif.; the Fairfield County Concours in Westport, Conn., and the Concours of the Americas at Meadow Brook, near Detroit.

Topping the birthday events is a gathering of Alfas in the company’s hometown, Milan, on June 26-27. More than 1,500 historic Alfas are expected, and parades are planned for both days.”

I wish we could have stayed in Milano for this event, it should be spectacular.

Alonso: Ferrari is too far away

mlstephens — Sun, 30 May 2010 23:48:13 +0000

Alonso: Ferrari is too far away
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/84032

“The points are good. Logically we wanted more but we were third in the championship, now we are fourth so we are still there.
“We don’t have the fastest car, and yet we are one point ahead of Vettel, so we aren’t doing too bad.”

Clearly the driver still matters, and McLaren leads in the points because of it. Massa finishing 7th, Schumacher 4th, and Vettel blowing it (again) makes for interesting racing. The Hamilton pass to overtake Button was fantastic, if a bit more gentlemanly than the Vettel attempt over his teammate. It is shaping up to be quite a season.

(via Instapaper)

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Ancient Alfas at Goodwood – Classic Driver

mlstephens — Sat, 29 May 2010 01:39:37 +0000

Ancient Alfas at Goodwood – Classic Driver

Classic Driver

Ancient Alfas at Goodwood
Classic Driver
Rediscovered in the 1970s and restored to how it had been, it now lives in Alfa Romeo’s Centro Storico. There’s plenty of whining when it starts up, …

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Volkswagen Buys Majority Stake in Italdesign Giugiaro

mlstephens — Sat, 29 May 2010 01:30:47 +0000

Volkswagen Buys Majority Stake in Italdesign Giugiaro

The Volkswagen Group has bought a 90.1-percent stake in Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. The new partnership between the German automaker and the storied Italian design works will see Italdesign taking on a bigger role in styling future Volkswagen products, beginning with the forthcoming Volkswagen Up!

Founded in 1968 in Turin, Italdesign has a long history of creating futuristic concepts and groundbreaking production cars. The company’s production-car legacy includes classics like the original Lotus Esprit, Lancia Delta, DMC DeLorean, Maserati Quattroporte, and Lamborghini Gallardo, and more ordinary cars like the Saab 9000, Hyundai Sonata, Subaru SVX, Lexus GS300, and Fiat Punto. The company also designs commercial trucks, tractors, and forklifts.

VW and Italdesign first hooked up in the 1970s, when the latter penned the Golf I, Passat, Scirocco, and (later) the Audi 80. Since then, Italdesign has created dozens of concept and production designs for VW as well as subsidiaries like SEAT and Lamborghini. Buying a large stake in the company likely gives VW a bigger say in new styling projects and keeps the Italian group from courting other manufacturers.

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2010 Alfa Romeo Guilietta: Safety Car For SBK Superbike World Championship

mlstephens — Sat, 22 May 2010 06:34:54 +0000

The top-of-the-line Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde, which is powered by a 1.75 liter turbo 235 bhp engine, has been selected to serve as the safety car for the SBK World Superbike Championship. Excellent choice, although it tops out well below the top speed of the bikes. It will be fun to see this car on the track.

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Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa

mlstephens — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:56:08 +0000

Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa

Zagato Atelier announces the introduction of the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa at the XII Villa D’Este Concours d’Elegance.

The TZ3 Corsa is not a design exercise. It does not take inspiration only from the 90 year collaboration between the two brands, neither only from the Milanese conjunction between Alfa Romeo and Zagato. The TZ3 Corsa is a race car, honouring 100 years of races and victories across the whole 20th century.

It celebrates men and machines of the Alfa Romeo Zagato common tradition. Scuderia Ferrari of the 20′s and 30′s, Alfa Corse of the 40′s and 50′s, Autodelta of the 60′s and 70′s up to the latest Scuderia Zagato of the 80′s and 90′s.

Recalling these racing emotions, the TZ3 Corsa is based on a mono shell carbon fibre tubular chassis, coupled with a tubular frame and a lightweight aluminium body. It boasts Technical Partners such as OMP and Pirelli.

Following Zagato’s gentlemen-driver heritage, the car has been commissioned by the Alfa Romeo Zagato collector Martin Kapp, during the Zandvoort Tribute to Zagato event, where more than 130 Alfa Romeo Zagatos were celebrating the 90th Anniversary of the brand.

Martin Kapp owns, among his Alfa Romeo Collection: SZ coda tonda and SZ coda tronca, TZ and TZ2, Junior Z and S.Z..

Alfa should move this direction, upmarket with true performance sports cars in the line, and mid-level sporting cars like the new Giulia to compete with the German brands in that segment of the market. I really like what Zagato has done with this car, although it isn’t a new inspirational design but more of a “retro” look, it does look modern and shows the sporting heritage that Alfa Romeo can capture in its mass production models. I’m hopeful that can be done with the new Giulietta and Giulia, and that the cars will be successful in the market.

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Alfa Romeo Giulietta new promo video

mlstephens — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 03:03:49 +0000

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Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Abarth merged into single brand group

mlstephens — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 19:39:30 +0000

Fiat announced that they are rolling the Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and Abarth brands together into one group. Alfa Romeo certainly has been in decline for about a decade as far as sales volume goes, and have been slow to market with new models. This, among other things, has also caused resale values to plummet, which also scares off buyers and causes a further spiral downward. Hopefully the re-grouping of these three performance brands will help to streamline costs, share platforms, and allow for better market branding which captures the essence of performance motoring and the heritage of each marque. Maybe Alfa won’t get lost or mixed with Chrysler after all. The new Giulietta looks to be a great car, and along with the MiTo and the MultiAir technology they potentially have a winner. Now it is up to management to sell it to the wary public and revitalize one of Italy’s most successful automotive brands.

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