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I just received an email from Don Jackson FIAT in Georgia.
"We are no longer selling the Alfa products"
Not a good sign.
"We are no longer selling the Alfa products"
Not a good sign.
I'm sorry to add to the negative vibe, but I'm concerned about the Alfa dealers based on my experience here in Chicago. I don't get the sense that they are on solid financial footing. I'll give a couple examples. In the Naperville area, there are dealers for every brand you would ever be able to shop in about a mile or two radius. It's a great thing for both the buyer and sellers. There is even a small dedicated "test track" that most of them share access to and help fund the ongoing maintenance and expenses. It's a great little spot to test drive different vehicles back to back. I narrowed my search to 3 cars - Stelvio, Kia Stinger, and Audi S5. I got to the Alfa dealer to test drive after doing the other two the same afternoon and we pull out on the street and he says they're not part of the test track! This is a Maserati dealer as well and you don't participate in something that will show off the BEST parts of your vehicles? Instead, we drove up and down some straight roads, sat at some stoplights and had a conversation about the Stelvio. Not spending the money to be a part of something so basic and that keeps you competitive with your peers just doesn't make a lot of sense unless you are short on cash and are keeping your expenses very tight.
Second example: I planned to do extended test drives on the same 3 vehicles to make a final decision - I really like elements of all of them and have been agonizing over making a decision. I had the Stinger for an overnight on Wednesday, and Audi gave me an afternoon Thursday with a 40 mile target on total miles - I had to push them fairly hard on this but they finally agreed. I've reached out to the two Alfa dealers that I had spoken to and neither one would allow an extended test drive. Both gave the same answer - our insurance won't allow us to do that. Again, this is an issue of expenses where you have to pay a little more in your insurance to allow those sorts of requests. One dealer is sitting on 38 Stelvios and the other almost 80 Stelvios and you can't allow a prospective customer a day to fall in love with the car?
All this to say that I have serious concerns about their long term viability in this market. FCS doesn't seem to have deep pockets to ride out this US Alfa experiment if it doesn't start moving more inventory soon. Given that I really like aspects of all 3 choices, I am fading on the prospects of the Stelvio being the final purchase for me.
There are only a few in the whole Chicago area. It's a huge market and the ones that are here seem to be struggling. Most of them are also Maserati dealers in the same building. I've read some concerning things about the financial health of the Maserati brand which doesn't bode well for the Alfa pairing in the same dealerships. I'm a business owner myself and know the kind of thought process that goes into cutting expenses when cash flow is tight. You have to be really careful not to cut of your nose to spite your face. That's what it seems these dealers are doing and it just makes me nervous.
Whoa!I planned to do extended test drives on the same 3 vehicles to make a final decision - I really like elements of all of them and have been agonizing over making a decision. I had the Stinger for an overnight on Wednesday, and Audi gave me an afternoon Thursday with a 40 mile target on total miles - I had to push them fairly hard on this but they finally agreed. I've reached out to the two Alfa dealers that I had spoken to and neither one would allow an extended test drive. Both gave the same answer - our insurance won't allow us to do that. Again, this is an issue of expenses where you have to pay a little more in your insurance to allow those sorts of requests. One dealer is sitting on 38 Stelvios and the other almost 80 Stelvios and you can't allow a prospective customer a day to fall in love with the car?
All this to say that I have serious concerns about their long term viability in this market. FCS doesn't seem to have deep pockets to ride out this US Alfa experiment if it doesn't start moving more inventory soon. Given that I really like aspects of all 3 choices, I am fading on the prospects of the Stelvio being the final purchase for me.
I suspect because Fiat owns chrysler jeep dodge as well,
AR will be in the us market for years to come, they've made a big investment.
A big but tho!! YOu will see a lot of dealers come and go,
some will thrive, while others will wither or lump along like some of the fiat dealers who are clearly an afterthought when you see their placement in a showroom or dealer lot.
Similar experience I've had over the decades with ducatis, aprilia, mv agustas and lotus, dealers have come and gone by the boatload and yet those marques are all still here and do reasonably well. Just don't tie yourself to one dealer and you'll have no worries. ALfa Romeo Fiat of Birmingham is doing great. An enthusiastic bunch that works there. THey've just build a huge new showroom after outgrowing the original. The other plus is they're part of a big multi-marque franchise which I think helps, as long as they're not overlooked which happens all too often in niche markets.
Fiat ownership of Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep etc doesn't mean much these days. Remember Daimler-Benz bought it in 1998 and dumped it for a loss in 2007. Then it belonged to some private equity firm until Fiat bought it in 2014. All in all there are some brands that have loyal customers and repeat buyers, but the whole Fiat group as a whole is not doing all that well in the US, compared to the big boys from Germany and Japan and of course the rest of our domestic cars.
Bottom line is that if your product is not selling then you have to cut your losses, right? Introducing a car into an existing competitive market is not easy and certainly not cheap. It needs a lot of planning and proper execution to make it a smooth operation. So far the sales numbers have been low, the responsiveness of AR is slow to non-existent, and don't forget training and tooling for all the dealerships and service departments. A good example is when i called the 3 local dealers last week and asked for the cost of an oil change, two of them had to put me on hold to get an answer and all three gave me vastly different prices. It sure looks like communication is not even established yet, and its been a while now.
I would keep an eye on this product dump by a dealership and see if it turns into a trend. Because if it does, we really have to start thinking about re-sale value in a more serious way, as if Fiat resale values are not dismal already.
I actually stopped by there today on my way out of Atlanta. Sales manager just said they were consolidating locations and Alfa was the odd brand out. He also said sales had started to pick up on the Stelvio last month. They have a ton of Giulia’s and Stelvio’s waiting to be picked up.
In this case, they are obviously closing the physical location.
Totally agree about knowing whether you like something. If the Stelvio does not light your fire in a test drive on the road, it is NOT for you. There is no way I would let a customer take a car overnight to "drive like ****" and the next morning say "no thanks this car is not for me".Whoa!
I bought my Stelvio after driving it for around 20 minutes, lol!!
Really. What the heck was their to think about?
maybe you got lucky with the KIA dealer or maybe they think you'll be paying full MSRP sticker for the Stinger. I NEVER heard of a dealer letting someone taking a demo out overnight. If that is what it takes, perhaps the KIA was mean to be.
Don't get me wrong: KIA's are fine automobiles. I used to own a Kia Sportage SX.
but Alfa Romeo cars have soul and charisma.
My Stelvio TI is a blast to drive every time I get behind the wheel :>)
I'm totally in love.
We're not terribly concerned either but for opposing reasons lol! We generally hold onto cars for at least 4-5 years and often 6+. As long as it doesn't cost an obscene amount to keep the Alfa on the road, we'll likely keep driving it.you absolutely can't let resale value enter into the equation.
The resale is going to be abysmal especially when the leases go out.
YOu can look a four year old evoques as a judge to plummeting value.
A lot of that is due to the fact these cars with all the gizmos will be unloaded once they go out of warranty. Expect to lose a third the first year you own it,
and it'll be worth about 50% in two years. If you're not comfortable with that type of loss probably want to trade on a honda similar type vehicle which will hold value better.
I'm just not terribly concerned, in a couple years, I'll be into something else at any rate.
Same situation we're in. We've traditionally financed in the past with 0% loans. This time, we're able to do cash. Not gonna lie, a little painful to part with that much at once lol! Just blessed to be in the situation that we can. We've worked to get to this point though, and hope the Stelvio is a worthy reward!I really like all the opinions I've read on this thread, but everyone looks at things from their own angle. Personally I'm a cash buyer and I keep my cars for 6+ years. I absolutely hate the idea of making payments and looking for loans. I like ownership. Our cars often overlap each other in age by about 3-4 years. Wife and i take turns in buying a new ride. So resale value comes into play for us.