Re: alfa-digest V8 #1105

[Will Owen <nashwill912@domain.elided>]

Peter said, echoing a previously rendered opinion:

"Couldnt agree more with just about every word.   I
always thought it a shame they decided to bring the 164
here instead of the 155.   Perhaps they thought with the
weak Milano sales that the 164 would fit the American
mass market better."

Try this: they knew that Saab had brought their own version of that platform (the 9000) to the US market, and it was selling like beer at a barbecue. They also knew that their version, the 164, was regarded by most European motoring writers and other opinion-wielders as the best of the lot, with Saab's running second or third. So...if they had a better version of a car that was already selling well, would it not be reasonable to think that this might be their ticket to the big time?

And before you scoff, let me suggest Alfa's guys were not alone in thinking this. Thoroughbred Motors was the Nashville dealer for both Alfa Romeo and Saab. Along around late '87 or early '88, they came a-knocking on the door at our AROC chapter, offering a-MAZing discounts on all their existing Milano stock - basically pricing each model like the next one down - and all (so they said through clenched teeth) because they wanted to be Our Buddies. Well, we had it from an insider that Saab had bluntly told
them that they could sell EITHER the 164, when it came out, OR Saabs. Not both. Within a month or two Thoroughbred (we usually modified the name, using a rude synonym for "bred") was out of the Alfa Romeo business, and a decent but clueless Chrysler dealer was given the task of turning Nashville into Alfa Country, to which challenge they did not quite rise...

Will Owen
Pasadena, CA
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided