Re: Dreaming of a new spider

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

On Thursday, October 3, 2002, at 02:35  PM, Ryan Fellini wrote:

> George, you're posting some incorrect info to the Digest there.
>
> - GM has NO option to purchase Fiat Auto (by the way, Fiat SpA is the
>   group, Fiat Auto is a division).
Technically, you're right. Its not an option, its a 'put' agreement 
between Fiat and GM



> - Fiat SpA has a "put" option to force GM to buy Fiat Auto (at a fair 
> market
>   value) from 2004-2009.  This was an escape clause in the contract 
> when
>   Fiat and GM swapped equity and is a quite common insert in order to
>   protect the shareholder, blah blah blah...
But since GM is under no obligation whatsoever to purchase the rest of 
the ailing company, In simple terms, the purchase is 'optional.'


> - Ferrari SpA and its Maserati division are majority owned by Fiat SpA,
>   and have nothing to do with Fiat Auto, so GM can not say or do 
> anything
>   with these companies.
True enough. But the rumor mill has it that GM wants Fiat to reorganize 
Ferrari/Maserati INTO the Fiat Auto Group before they will discuss the 
purchase.



> "Fiat won't be able to recover from their current economic crisis".
>
> If you've studied the history of Fiat, they've been *much* worse off 
> before,
> and are no where near as bad off as Nissan was a few years ago.  They
> have a very good chance of recovery.  Fiat putting off the investment
> to reintroduce Alfa is not a GRIM story, its one that makes good 
> business
> sense considering the reorganization they are under and the huge costs
> of setting up a car business in the USA.  If you meant GRIM for us.. 
> that
> is true. :-)
Things are a bit different this time. I hope you are right, and Fiat 
can rebound, but the beleaguered automaker has a couple of situations 
this time that didn't exist before. One is the simple fact that as the 
Italian populace becomes more affluent they are less and less 
interested in Fiat's bread-and-butter offerings. These Cinquecentro  
and other tiny cars simply do not appeal any more, especially since 
other offerings from the ECU, like the SmartCar are seen as better 
cars. Losing that core market and not offering compelling upscale autos 
to keep those 500 and 600 owners in the fold, has hurt Fiat badly. At 
one time Fiat made a lot of money exporting their older designs and 
their manufacturing expertise to the Soviet Block nations. The Poles, 
Cheks, Yugoslavs, and Russians all built older Fiat models under 
license. This has largely, or perhaps totally evaporated. This 
recovery, if possible, will be a lot harder.

I also believe that Fiat is making a big mistake by delaying the Alfa 
North American relaunch. This is the world's largest car market. If 
they need to sell more cars. opening up a new market is the way to do 
it. After seeing the new Punto Abarath at Concorso Italiano, I firmly 
believe that they could sell a not insignificant number of those cars 
here as well. If I were Fiat, I think that I would re-organize Alfa 
into the Ferrari/Maserati group and let Ferrari's dealer network handle 
Alfas in the USA.



> take care,
> Ryan
>
> ps. anyone know what Autodelta charges?
Spider - about $US47,000
GTV Coupe - about $US45,000
166 - about - $US55,000

This from the President of AutoDelta himself (a Sr, Giordano)

George Graves



>   Somehow I remember it being
> crazy.  If I remember correctly, others have brought in these same cars
> privately along as it is the Spider/GTV/166 with the 3.0L engine.  I'm 
> making
> up things on my own now as well, but I think you can claim the 3.0L 
> engine
> is very close to the engine that was US federalized.  Also, the 
> Spider/GTV
> were engineered for the US market, and the 166 is a revision of the 
> 164...
> Ok, someone think of an excuse for bringing in the 147 GTA now...
> ----
>
> > Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2002 11:32:47 -0700
> > From: George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>
> > Subject: Re:  Dreaming of a new spider
> >
> > The latest story is GRIM. Fiat is now saying 2007 for Alfa's
> > reintroduction to the US market. But it might as well be an eternity,
> > and probably is. Fiat says that it can't afford the costs of setting 
> > up
> > a nation-wide dealer network or the massive advertising campaign
> > required for the re-launch. My guess is that unless GM intervenes by
> > buying Fiat and infusing great amounts of cash, Fiat won't be able to
> > recover from their current economic crisis at all. Unfortunately, the
> > rumor mill has it that GM won't exercise their option to buy Fiat
> > unless Ferrari and Maserati are included in the deal, and I don't 
> > think
> > that will happen.
> >
> > Want a new Alfa Spider? Contact Autodelta USA:
> >
> > http://www.autodeltausa.com
> >
> > They are selling re-badged and slightly re-engineered current Alfa
> > Spiders, GTV coupes, and 166 sedans. You want a new Alfa in the USA?
> > Its about the only way and probably will remain so for quite a while.
> >
> > George Graves
> > '86 GTV-6
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