Just a year ago Alfa was hoping to sell 400,000 cars annually by the end of 2018, thanks partly to a big new push into the US. This year, in fact, it may sell 100,000 cars globally and is still not – yet – selling any meaningful volumes in America. Maserati’s record isn’t as bad, but the rhetoric has rarely matched the results.
Little wonder Canadian Reid Bigland, the new CEO of both brands, is not prepared to make any bold sales promises when we meet at the Paris motor show. ‘I’m not interested in sales volumes. I’m interested in building Alfa Romeos and Maseratis true to their DNAs. That’s how we’ll run long-term successful brands.’
Bigland was head of US sales, and Canadian CEO, for Fiat Chrysler (FCA) before the promotion. He continues with those existing roles.
Alfa and Maserati will ‘always be made in Italy’
He says ‘under my watch’ Alfa and Maserati will never make cars outside Italy. ‘We’re Italian brands and made-in-Italy is important.’ He says Fiat-Chrysler’s plans a few years ago to make a new Maserati SUV on a Jeep platform in America was ‘clearly a mistake. Building in Detroit could destroy the brand’. The eventual Maserati SUV, the Levante (below), happily uses a Maserati platform and is proudly made in Italy.
Maserati Levante
The two brands dovetail superbly, says Bigland. ‘Where one brand stops in price, the other begins. That won’t change. There is no cannibalisation, no segment overlap.’
Ferrari-made engines and proud of it
Maserati proudly uses Ferrari-made engines, and so does the top-end Alfa Giulia QV. It’s important for sales and image. He admits Ferrari doesn’t really like Maserati and Alfa promoting that. ‘You can’t blame them when they’re selling the California for a lot more money [which uses the same family of engine]. They’re Ferrari engines and that’s a great selling point for us. We just have to be sensitive about promoting it.’
The Levante, ‘the Maserati of SUVs’ is set to be Maserati’s biggest seller, responsible for 40-50 % of total sales volumes. This year Maserati will sell 35,000-40,000 cars. Five years ago it sold 6500 cars.
New Alfa SUV aims for Nürburgring record
The new mid-size Alfa SUV, the Stelvio (below), debuts at this autumn’s Los Angeles motor show. Bigland hopes and expects it to be the world’s fastest SUV around the Nürburgring, increasingly an Alfa litmus test for performance. With this and the well-received new Giulia, Alfa’s sales should (finally!) start to blossom.