re: Beating the dead horse: Alfa's non-return to the US

[Joe Elliott <jee@domain.elided>]

I often find myself wondering the same thing.  As for Audi, I don't 
think their reputation was ever really that bad, or at least their 
recovery happenned when i was too young to notice.  Additionally, I 
think few people beyond you, my dad, and my Porsche/Audi 
mechanic-turned-mailman would think of how crappy the first Audis in 
the USA were.  I think the real problem Audi had with their 
reputation was the whole unintended acceleration thing, which they 
overcame with marketing, and the fact that they're German.  People of 
my generation, who are now getting to the point in their lives where 
they can afford Audis, wouldn't know what I was talking about if I 
made "back through your garage door yet?" joke.  So Audi has 
essentially had two rebirths in the USA--the first being the success 
of the Quattro after the crap that was the Fox, etc., the second 
being their recent surge in popularity after the unintended 
acceleration nonsense.  Long story short, there are some 
half-explanations, but if people of your generation still remember 
'70s Audis, then I don't really have an answer*.  People's perception 
of Jaguar has a lot to do with Ford, I think.  (Although, considering 
the number of Series III XJ's on the road, which were new when Jag's 
reputation should have been at its all-time worst as '70s cars were 
getting to be 5-10 yrs old, one has to wonder if said reputation ever 
had an impact on their sales.)  No one seems to notice that it was 
the separation from British Leyland in 1984 and not the acquisition 
by Jaguar in 1989 that saw Jaguar quality return to pre-'70s levels. 
I think that perhaps they would be regarded in a similar way to Alfa 
and Fiat if it weren't common knowledge that they are owned by Ford. 
Also, as I alluded to above, Jags have always remained relatively 
popular, so someone had to notice when the quality control problems 
went away, Alfa and Fiat, on the other hand, saw their popularity 
peak in the USA during the Spica/rust days of the '70s, so those are 
the Alfas and Fiats that people are most likely to remember.

*It has always intrigued me that so many American marque sterotypes 
are rooted in the 1970's--what is so special about the '70s?? 
People's perception of Italian cars, British cars (other than 
post-'89 Jags), and French cars seem to come completely from the 
flaws the people noticed in the '70s.  This is particularly 
interesting because French cars were never really that bad, but 
people jump at the chance to badmouth their build quality anyway. 
Additionally, '70s Japanese cars rusted faster than anything but a 
Fiat or an Alfasud, but no one bothers remembering that, and the 
reliability of American cars of the period was right up there with 
British Leyland--no one seems to remember that either, although being 
the native car, that might be expected.  I bring all this up because 
the basic gist of my thoughts in the first paragraph were that people 
don't remember '70s Audis--why?

Joe Elliott
(You know who to call when you want a non-answer longer than the question.)


At 3:16 AM +0000 9/20/02, alfa-digest wrote:

> Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 18:43:35 -0500
> From: "Peter Webb" <webb.p@domain.elided>
> Subject:
> > But the safety regs issue, like the smog control issue, makes a fine
> scapegoat.
>
> Long post snipped...
>
> What I've always wondered was this:
>
> Ask any layperson about Alfa, and they immediately assume mechanical
> problems.   Perception of Fiat is even worse.    Same reputation has applied
> to other European marques in the US for a decade or more, specifically Audi
> and Jaguar.
>
> Why is it now that the A4, A6, XJ etc. are doing so well here?   Admittedly,
> the A4 is a nice machine, not resembling the 80, 100 or Fox.   If those cars
> with scars can reinvent themselves in the US (and yes, it was an enormous
> advertising campaign) why can't Alfa?
>
> Not to mention that Audi has achieved much racing success which they tout,
> but Alfa has achieved more.   I heard a rumour of an Audi F1 effort at one
> point.   Auto Union certainly has history there but Alfa has more.
>
> What is so different about the situations?
>
> - -Peter
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided