A couple of years ago I rented a diesel Alpha Romeo 156 standard tranny in Italy. I put quite a few km on it and loved the car. They cannot be purchased here in the U.S. Does anyone know why? And are they destined to be sold here in the future?
Lack of a market for them more than likely is the reason and I have no idea if they will ever be offered in the U.S.
The track record for Alpha (and Fiat, their cousins) has not been good at times.
I know an Alpha dealer who has had problems with the distributor as to warranty and parts procurement and Fiat suffered this in a big way.
Distributors set up shop, unload cars on dealers, and then bail out leaving a lot of people holding the bag.
I worked for a multi-line dealer who decided to take Fiat on against everyones recommendations and it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Belly up we went, as the distributor really stuck it to us, and many others.
Dist. here today; phone disconnected the next.
Alfa Romeo is hoping to return to the American market in 2008 with the 8C Competizione coupe (about $200,000, and only 250 available). A Spider version may be available in '09, and the rest of the Alfa line (or whatever they decide to market in the US), should be here around 2011.
Start saving now.
It’s Alfa Romeo, not Alpha.