Italian v. German

[James Montebello <jamesm@domain.elided>]

Ask the "average" American what words they'd associate with:

German cars: solid, expensive, reliable
Italian cars: sexy, expensive, trouble

Some marques, Mercedes and Porsche, for example, have strong enough
identities that they don't have to rely on the generic German identity.
Audi had a distinct advantage when dealing with the whole 5000 palaver in
the mid-80s.  Guilt by association meant that as soon as that blew over,
Audi would drift back into the collective view of German cars.

Almost no American has any first or even second-hand knowledge of Alfas,
so it gets lumped into the general Italian category, fairly or unfairly.
Ferraris are outrageously expensive and cranky.  FIATs are junk.
Alfa gets tarred with that same brush (and, admittedly, hasn't done much
to wipe away the negative).  In this country, Alfa has a deep hole to
dig themselves out of, and can't rely on any generic association to help.

james montebello
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