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. 

via insideline.com

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Alfa Romeo introduces the new MiTo Quadrifoglio at the Frankfurt auto show.

from Autoblog.com 

Looks like a great car, and they're utilizing their MultiAir engine which improves power as well as fuel mileage.  With Chrysler struggling, I'm afraid that we'll never see this Alfa in the US.  All the recent reports point to the Fiat effort to rebuild the Chrysler product line.  Hopefully Alfa doesn't get lost in that shuffle, or worse, get rebadged as Chrysler.  

Either way it is going to take some time.  Fiat is targeting early 2011 as the introduction date for the Fiat 500 in the US.  Maybe time is what they need to figure out how to make this acquisition work.  What I find amazing is the reports that Fiat has been surprised by the lack of inventory and slow Chrysler sales.  You would think that they would have visited a few US dealers to get the front-line perspective before purchasing the company.  They're expecting dealers to expand to accommodate the additional brands.  This strategy doesn't bode well for Fiat or Alfa, either, as these are the same dealers who aren't selling any cars thus don't have the capital to build.  

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Alfa Romeo sales are projected to be up 11% in 2009. Wow, big news, in a bad economy and global market, but we’re still talking relatively small numbers in auto sales terms. The total is expected to be 115-120,000.

They also made a big splash in Frankfurt with the announcement about MultiAir (above). The technology is impressive and innovative, though not completely unique. As the article details, the MultiAir electrohydraulic valve control is an advance for Fiat, and they plan on bringing it to Chrysler models.

Will it help to sell Chryslers? I doubt it. If the cars are otherwise uninspiring, it is hard to market valve technology to the average American car buyer. I’d rather see Fiat bring over their innovative cars like the MiTo which employs this technology, has exciting driving dynamics, impressive fuel economy and styling which makes one take notice.

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Posted via web from mlstephens’s posterous

So you think that social media is a fad or just something the kids do to keep up with their friends? Think again. This video has some mind-numbing statistics. The marketing landscape is changing rapidly. I’m constantly thinking about how to make something of it. Assuming that it really is a revolution.

Watch twice (essential to catch all the stats) and then comment below.

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Selecting an outstanding webhost is essential for your website. If you’ve been following my site for a while, you certainly have noticed a number of recent changes. I’m now running on WordPress, which I’ll cover at some point in the near future. In this post I want to highlight my recent change of webhost. I switched to Hostmonster.com.

Do you want to set up a blog? Then all you might need to know is Hostmonster.com has a script setup feature that helps you install a WordPress blog in about one minute. Seriously. This is nice stuff!

Why the switch? Well my previous webhost seemed to have some outages; nothing major but enough to be annoying. It seemed to run my CMS (content management system) site relatively slowly. Trying to change my domain info has been a hassle. I could go on but you get the picture.

So I read reviews and recommendations and settled on Hostmonster. I’ve had to call support in order to sort out a domain transfer, and they have been very pleasant, quick and very available via phone as well as web chat. You know that you’ll have issues at some point, and customer service is really, really important.

If you’re looking to run a database-driven website, such as a CMS or a blog, you want a host with up-to-date software. Hostmonster has the latest and a comprehensive array of options. In the past I’ve found that the hosts I’ve used had inadequate Control Panel, better known as cPanel, features for even my humble needs. Now that I’ve seen a really good one I know what I was missing in both feature set as well as use.

The features the Hostmonster’s cPanel offers are fantastic. Things like one-click backup wizards, which will backup not only the site but also the database at the same time or separately. Nice. You’ll find numerous webmail options, as well as several layers of management for spam and filtering. FTP, check. SSH, check.

The list goes on and on, so I won’t bore you, you have to see it for yourself. And if you’re not a tech geek, every single option within Cpanel has an associated video tutorial to walk you through setup. Their entire program really is set up with customer service in mind, which isn’t all that common among the typical low-cost hosting companies.

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Click on the comments link below and contribute your thoughts, ideas, or questions about this post.