Fiat Chrysler is pushing back its master plan on fully relaunching Alfa Romeo in North America.
According to Automotive News, suppliers say the European launch of the Giulia sedan has been delayed six months to mid-2016, while Alfa Romeo’s upcoming SUV will arrive in early 2017 – a delay of about nine months.
For the North American market, this means we’ll see the Giulia arrive in dealers sometime between fall 2016 and winter 2017, and the Guilia-based SUV should hit dealers as early as spring 2017. Unfortunately, these delays paint a less-than-stellar outlook for Alfa Romeo’s revamp.
“Fiat has promised numerous re-launches for Alfa Romeo in the Marchionne era,” automotive analyst Max Warburton told Auto News. “New products and bold volume targets have come and gone.”
Suppliers suggest the delays can be chalked up to additional work cropping up on the Guilia’s safety and ride characteristics. The high-performance, 503-horsepower Giulia Quadrifoglio was expected to be followed by base, four-cylinder models sometime after its original launch date, but these variants won’t arrive until mid-2017 at the latest.
Alfa Romeo originally intended to sell 400,000 vehicles by 2018, but Auto News says analyst Richard Hilgert feels that target is over-reaching.
“I would be impressed if the brand sold 200,000. I think Marchionne set an overly lofty target as a shock treatment to a patient in cardiac arrest,” he said. “The idea being to get an immediate dramatic response, but his plan for 400,000 units in 2018 would have the patient immediately get up and run a five-kilometre race.”
