Dealers dropping Alfa?

9256 Views 22 Replies 12 Participants Last post by lost1750GTV, Jan 22, 2018

stelvio_hawaii

Discussion Starter · Jan 19, 2018

I just received an email from Don Jackson FIAT in Georgia.

"We are no longer selling the Alfa products"

Not a good sign.

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

karlfevans

· #2 · Jan 19, 2018

Not sure about Don Jackson Fiat. A few months ago many on this board were quoting deals at Don Jackson for $6,000 off MSRP. Since I was willing to go to Atlanta to get that kind of deal, I asked for a quote. Their quote was MSRP less ZERO. That is correct, zero discount.

I suspect Don Jackson Fiat got tired of answering out of state requests for quotes. There is a second Alfa dealer in Atlanta, and maybe that is all the market will bear - one dealer.

Reactions: 1

Biscione1750

· #3 · Jan 19, 2018

Well, not long ago FCA had promised 8 new AR models by 2020 and that would have encouraged dealers to take on Alfa.
But now no one knows when they will release their next model. Maybe this is the reason for this dealer to drop Alfa.

LC_LC

· #4 · Jan 19, 2018 (Edited)

Yeah, there could be a lot of reasons why a dealer might drop Alfa Romeo. They may not want to train a dedicated mechanic(s) for the brand, Alfa may state that they want them to have a separate place(same lot, different area)for people can go in and just look at the brand, not mixed in with other Chrysler products. The dealer does not want a dedicated sales staff to support the brand. Like stated, some ares can only support 1 dealer, etc. Alfa has not gone out with the media and pushed the product, this day and age, you have to do that. All of the above is my opinion.

The dealer I purchased my Stelvio from sells two brands, in a new building/lot just for them with no other, not even next door.

MartinC

· #5 · Jan 19, 2018

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.

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zvezdah1

· #6 · Jan 19, 2018

Don't forget, Fiat owns ALfa, Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler. Pretty certain they're not going away in the us market. You will always have good and bad dealers. This is more of an enthusiasts marque (like the mini type experience). It will take time to overcome the past history of the brand.

The other problems you've got some great, enthusiastic alfa/fiat dealers (Fiat/AR of Birmingham is one, god I wish I'd have bought my stelvio from them, bought four other cars from them, a great bunch). Than you've got mediocre dealers(where sadly I bought my stelvio from), hopefully these are the ones that go away.

MartinC said:
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.

MartinC

· #7 · Jan 19, 2018

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.

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zvezdah1

· #8 · Jan 20, 2018

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.

MartinC said:
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.

tipo949

· #9 · Jan 20, 2018 (Edited)

other options

MartinC said:
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.

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.

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Reactions: 2

Marco

· #10 · Jan 20, 2018

zvezdah1 said:
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.

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zvezdah1

· #11 · Jan 20, 2018

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.

Marco said:
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.

JnDRader

· #12 · Jan 20, 2018

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.

Reactions: 1

zvezdah1

· #13 · Jan 20, 2018

it's not a great location. I wasn't terribly impressed, sale went ok but they've been slow to do things like payoff my trade in (they finallyl did).
BUT I've still yet to get my motor reg papers. And of course after the fact, I looked them up on BBB (as well as the parent group which handles dodge, etc) and they have a D rating. So not a dealership that alfa needs in any event.

JnDRader said:
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.

karlfevans

· #14 · Jan 20, 2018

tipo949 said:
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.

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".

There is a reason serious car lovers when advertising their car for sale include quotes like "serious buyers only" and "no tire kickers".

Reactions: 1

JnDRader

· #15 · Jan 20, 2018

zvezdah1 said:
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.

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.

Reactions: 1

Scalewoodman

· #16 · Jan 21, 2018

Agreed with the other owners- I tend to baby my vehicles and keep them for a few years. At this point this is the best and most exciting purchase we've ever made. Complex thinkers analyze every dime as if it's some sort of investment (it's not) as they roll negative equity into every loan. For me, the joy of ownership isn't pretending any new vehicle is somehow a wise financial decision (while the BMW/Lexi/Benz dealers put it to you playing to your shallow ego). I am happy following my gut and have never been disappointed - roof/ no roof, luxo appointments or no- opinions are like xx holes everybody has one. Appliance dealers (Toyota, Nissan, etc.) Are for safe buyers- our choice checks off all the boxes left and right brain and we intend to enjoy our Stelvio to the max without looking back!

Reactions: 1

Scalewoodman

· #17 · Jan 21, 2018

And to add- no offense intended - people like to think because they qualify for a loan they are somehow 'players' and need their fragile egos massaged - and I have worked for car dealers and read the credit reports as they bounce through every fad (signing anywhere for the ego brand) without any pause and try to make the payment work with a crappy credit rating and a hole so deep it's actually dark in there. For heaven's sake it's a CAR, not some ego extension. Work hard make good choices raise your kids donate to charity do the right thing and then maybe- just maybe- you will be a player and you won't even care or be embarrassed by your success- as a result of a good life not the purpose of one. Probably these are the Alfa demographics. Just a hunch.

Reactions: 2

Marco

· #18 · Jan 21, 2018

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.

JnDRader

· #19 · Jan 21, 2018

Marco said:
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.

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!

Woodsman, I tend to agree about brands and egos. Not everyone does it though, maybe not even most though at times is seems that they do.

As for the point of the OP, I might worry if there were a rash of closures. But so far it seems to be just the one. I do believe they dropped Alfa due to sluggish sales. I think Alfa needs to invest at least a little bit into marketing the car if they want to start stealing sales. Then again, maybe they're waiting for the QV to be released thinking the buzz from it will draw some attention their way. I would be curious if they expected this many vehicles to still be sitting on dealer lots or not. December numbers picked up significantly relative to previous months. I'll be curious to see the January numbers and see if the trend continues.

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lost1750GTV

· #20 · Jan 21, 2018

"QV to be released thinking the buzz from it"

that's obviously the plan, having the giulia QV first generated the interest in the other versions, and having the SQV last keeps it in the press longer - but doesn't give that halo effect until it's actually out and getting press and attracting people to the dealers. a few youtube clips from dubai are only seen by those already waiting.

they are late getting the SQV to the US market, and it's reflected in the number of other stelvios sitting on the lots.
the faster they get it available, the faster the others will move.

oh, resale value concerns - we keep our cars a long time, so not a consideration.
and there are bound to be dealers where expectations aren't met, for either FCA or the dealer or both, for a variety of reasons.

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