Will the new Giulia give Alfa more throttle? - Irish Times
According to Wester – and repeated by Marchionne during the car’s unveiling – Alfa may have a rich racing heritage but the glory on the racetrack never translated into great financial success. And there were major mistakes along the way, not least the decision by Fiat, after it took over the brand in 1987, to converge its architecture and powertrains into Alfa models. In a recent presentation, Wester used the example of the Fiat Croma, which Fiat tried to turn into an Alfa under the guise of the 164. That was not the first time such a mistake was made: in 1984 Alfa did a deal with Nissan whereby the Nissan... According to Wester, for years Alfas historical DNA was not respected. At the same time the German brands “built a phenomenal lead over us”. The models on offer didn’t bear any relationship to the hype about racing pedigree and history. Perhaps as important is Alfa’s new approach to development. The name refers to an elite group set up to research and develop a project – usually one that’s radically different from the traditional ways of a firm. For Alfa, the. Source: www.irishtimes.com
