Re: alfa-digest V9 #103

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

I wouldn't worry too much about Ferrari were I you. Fiat Auto division 
is in deep doo-doo, for sure, but Fiat Group is a big company with many 
holdings, and only the auto division (of which Ferrari/Maserati are NOT 
a part) is hurting except for Alfa which is doing well. Iveco, the 
truck division is also doing well, as is Ferrari/Maserati. They are not 
in any danger of Fiat Auto dragging them down with it as far as I can 
see. The sales guy with whom you were speaking sells cars, I wouldn't 
expect him to know anything about corporate matters, and if he thinks 
Ferrari's future is tied to how many Puntos and Doblos Fiat Auto 
division sells, he knows just about what one should expect. Nothing.

On another note, the November issue of the British mag, 'Auto Italia' 
has an article in it hinting at a Fiat Group (not Fiat Auto) 
"supergruppo" division consisting of Ferrari/Maserati/Alfa Romeo with 
Luca Di Montezemolo as the head honcho. At a recent press event with 
French Journalist, according to 'AutoItalia,' Di Montezemolo let slip a 
remark about a "beautiful trio" being in the offing for the near 
future. He claimed to be merely speculating, but the magazine says that 
he is probably more 'au fait' with top Fiat management than he is 
letting on. We'll see, won't we?

George Graves
'86 GTV-6



On Saturday, Dec 7, 2002, at 14:18 US/Pacific, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Sat, 7 Dec 2002 12:22:17 EST
> From: Alfisto@domain.elided
> Subject: Re: Ferrari and Alfa
>
> I spoke with a Ferrari rep. from Italy at the San Francisco Car Show 
> last
> week about the future of Alfa and Ferrari in the States, and he said 
> that
> even they did not know but were somewhat worried about their future 
> here. It
> appears that Fiat is in such a dire financial position at this time 
> that
> unless things do pick up for them, then neither Alfa nor Ferrari might 
> have a
> future here. It seems that Fiat Group has been hit very hard by the 
> increased
> competition in Europe especially by Japanese and Korean automakers and 
> also
> by smaller European carmakerss such as Skoda which is now making great 
> cars.
> Oh yes, I almost took pity on him and put in an order for a new 
> Maserati
> spider. What a gorgeous boulevardier that machine is - and if only I 
> had $90K
> to spare right now..... Well the new Audi cabriolet isn't that bad 
> either for
> less than half the price
> Graham Arlen
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