Looks like another automaker will be trying to emulate the MINI sales success. Automotive News is reporting that Alfa Romeo is planning on building a MINI fighter for 2008. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
>Due by 2008, the Junior will become Alfa’s new entry model, fitting below the lower-premium 147, which will be replaced in late 2008 by the larger 149.
>The Junior’s range-topping 230hp version will come with Alfa’s Q2 part-time four-wheel-drive transmission system as standard equipment. The carmaker will show a concept version of the 147 that features the Q2 system at the Paris auto show in September. Alfa is expected to offer the Q2 system on the 147 and GT Coupe starting next year.
You can read the entire article (registration required) below:
[ Alfa to build a Mini fighter ] Automotive News Europe
Update:
Here another article that doesn’t require registration:
[ Alfa to build a Mini fighter ] Reuters UK
Cool! More competition makes better MINIs!
Will this mean Alfa’s will actually be available in the US?
Alfa could be a formidable competitor as long as the quality is there…
I have been reading about the come back of Alfa to the US since 1997 and so far this hasn’t materialized.
The idea, at least on paper, was for GM to import Alfa Romeo’s into the US and sell them at select Cadillac dealerships by 2004. There have been many hurdles in the way for GM, but there is still some possibility in the future that the Italian marque will be back in the US market.
Alfa left the US in 1991-92 around the same time Peugeot fold tent in the US.
That sounds really interesting!
You have to love the design of an Alfa but despise the build quality.
Short of Alfa really getting their build quality right I doubt BMW will loose any sleep!
I hate it when people automatically associate Fiat or Alfa with “not top quality”.
Unfortunately this is due to the very few cars that actually came to the us, but Alfa’s current offerings are quite stunning, in design as well as quality.
Italian cars still have a reputation for spotty reliability in Europe, even today.
But hey, I would certainly love to see them making a comeback. We need ‘affordable’ Italian auto alternatives aside from exotics such as Lambos, Ferraris and Maseratis.
Reading the rest of the article doesn’t just require registration, it requires a paid subscription : ( Oh well like another said more competition will make for better Minis down the road.
I’ll believe it when I see it. I’ve been waiting for Alfa to get their act together for years, and for over a decade they’ve been saying that they’ll be back in the US in a year, or two, or three.
When I think of Alfas I think of three things; Spiders, GTAs, and big Jano and Ferrari bred pre-war straight sixes, V8s, and up. Since the ’60s Spiders and GTAs have been 4 cylinder affairs, true sports cars for the road going enthusiast.
Alfa needs to take the kind of approach VW is taking in getting back in touch with its own brand identity. Instead it looks like they’re either trying to be Maserati with a big V8 spider or they’re trying to be Fiat with a Grande Punto clone.
Instead of straddling the niches of it corporate cousins Alfa needs to reclaim it’s own identity.
Instead of a $45,000 or more V8 AWD so—called Spider — show me a range topping 2600cc inline 4 with forced induction in a GTA and a Spider. And price it competitively with the Cooper S with an even sportier Quadrifoglio Spider/GTA edition priced to compete with the JCW.
If Alfa wants to make big engined cars that’s great too, make the 8C, hell super charge it and call it a Monza and go racing with it.
Nothing else drives quite like a MINI Cooper S. The same can be said for the classic 1969 Alfa Romeo Spider 1750 Veloce. In Spica fuel injected or Webber carburated form with it’s curvy rear end it was the last thing Alfa got absolutely right. Until they realize that, the ’69 Veloce is probably the only Alfa that will have space in my Garage. I’ve got no need for a Grande Punto and probably won’t have the extra dough for a V8 Brera.
Okay so, I apologize for the rant, I’m just really annoyed by the direction Alfa is going in.
<blockquote>Alfa left the US in 1991-92 around the same time Peugeot fold tent in the US.</blockquote> The last Alfa sold in the US was the 1994 Spider.
<blockquote>Reading the rest of the article doesn’t just require registration, it requires a paid subscription</blockquote> There are other free articles <a href="http://maintenance.autoblog.com/2006/08/21/alfa-romeo-hot-hatchback-in-the-works/" rel="nofollow">here</a>, <a href="http://www.wheels24.co.za/Wheels24/News/0,,1369-1372_1988998,00.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>, and <a href="http://motoring.reuters.co.uk/reuters/vocmain.jsp?lnk=101&id=1840&desc=New%20Alfa%20Romeo%20Alfasud" rel="nofollow">here</a>.
<blockquote>Will this mean Alfa’s will actually be available in the US?</blockquote>Um, <a href="http://www.automobilemag.com/features/news/0510_alfa_romeo_america/" rel="nofollow">yeah</a>, that’s <a href="http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060713/FREE/307130001/1065/LATESTNEWS" rel="nofollow">their plan</a>.
Avitor – The 1750 Spider is a floppy mess to drive. No competition for the sublime 1750 GT Veloce. THAT was the last car Alfa got absolutely right.
<blockquote>Avitor – The 1750 Spider is a floppy mess to drive. No competition for the sublime 1750 GT Veloce. THAT was the last car Alfa got absolutely right.</blockquote> Dude, my car is not a floppy mess to drive.
Unfortunately my mate works at Arnold Clark Alfa in Edinburgh and he is endlessly telling me about the horror stories regarding brand new Alfa’s. So I would not be to hasty to advocate the build quality of an Alfa, although no doubt they are not as bad as the older cars. Furthermore my mate had a GTV which was a great looking car and it had two new engines over 27,000 miles – not good!
BMW is a vastly superior product, although lets not take away the fact that Alfa Romeo has more design flair.
The last great Alfas were the Giulietta Sprint, Berlina, and Spider Veloces, as far as I’m concerned, but they made a lot of good cars thru the early ’70s – and I’m only talking cars available in the States, since that’s my neck of the woods. I have high hopes for Alfa, as their cars generally have a performance streak in ’em somewhere.
BCNU,
Rob in Dago
I wonder if it will be in MINIs price range.
The MINI has many contenders against it right now, much less in the future, all over the world – but one key advantage that the MINI has is that in addition to trumping up the legacy and heritage of the Mini name in automotive history, the MINI is also a lifestyle purchase.
You are not only buying a car that harks back to the giant-killer legacy of the original Mini, but you are also buying a vehicle that reflects on the person that you are – creative, daring to be different, trendy, cool, etc.
This is not unlike the Apple iPod, which is still the king of the MP3 market despite the competition having better (and cheaper) products – you don’t buy it solely for the technical features, you buy it for the lifestyle experience that it gives you (in the case of the iPod, iTunes and a brilliant user interface).
That’s what I believe that the MINI brings to the plate, you buy the car for the whole MINI experience, not just a car. That experience begins the moment you check out the MINI website, go into the dealership, the follow-up marketing materials, and then user websites and car clubs.
Unless the competition has that too, it will be difficult to best the MINI based purely on technical specs alone. The car, yes – but the ownership experience, no.
I guess I’m the only one that has a problem with
driving a car branded “Junior”. Oh well, cuts down
on the thought of naming the car if so inclined….
<blockquote>I guess I’m the only one that has a problem with driving a car branded “Juniorâ€ÂÂ.</blockquote>
Oh yeah, they named the dog “Indiana.”
MillieTheMini, you have hit it right on. As an iPod owner (and an iMac, and a Mac Mini, and a MINI Cooper S) I can only agree with you. If Apple were to make a car, the MINI would be it! Sure, there are faster cars, maybe even cars that corner as well, but none that I know of offer the total experience the MINI does, and I have owned lots of cars, including Jags, an Alfa, an Audi S4 and RX-7s. None of them were as much fun as the MINI.
I’m sorry, But when I see <a href="http://www.motorbase.com/profiles/vehicle/picture.ehtml?i=911156669;p=1730726615" rel="nofollow">Junior </a> I think of <a href="http://www.gordon-glasgow.org/gallery2.asp" rel="nofollow">this.</a>
Alfa will hit the U.S. market 2009. Can’t wait. Beautiful cars.
Jakob, I hope you are right, because the Alfas are certainly beautiful. I love my MINI, but choice is a good thing, and we have not been able to choose an Alfa, or a Peugeot or a Citroen for far too long. Europeans have more to choose from,so I hope some of these marques do return to North America.
Quote/Dave Mac Mini Aug 29th, 2006 Link
MillieTheMini, you have hit it right on. As an iPod owner (and an iMac, and a Mac Mini, and a MINI Cooper S) I can only agree with you. If Apple were to make a car, the MINI would be it! Sure, there are faster cars, maybe even cars that corner as well, but none that I know of offer the total experience the MINI does, and I have owned lots of cars, including Jags, an Alfa, an Audi S4 and RX-7s. None of them were as much fun as the MINI./quote
But would the battery life and warranty be any good
:-p 😀
<blockquote>Dude, my car is not a floppy mess to drive.</blockquote>
Definitely not in an absolute sense, but relative to the 105 coupe it is. Not a lot of torsional rigidity going on in the spiders.
They just need to put the Brera out in the US. That would look good next to my Mini
Let’s face it guys, the true competitor of the mini, as far as the whole experience, will be the mighty Fiat 500.
Not to forget that it’s being designed by the guy who headed the design team at MINI for the new MINI.
I also would love to see realistic plans for a comeback of the mighty and most brutal car of them all, (in my opinion), the Lancia Delta HF Integrale.
Now there’s a car I would buy over the mini before even looking at it.
Enzo, don’t forget the Renault R5 Turbo.
<a href="http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/features/0308scc_renault_r5_turbo_2/" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/features/0308scc_renault_r5_turbo_2/</a>
Sorry, underscores were parsed out of that link for some reason…