Alfa Romeos are known as a poor man’s Ferrari. It’s a car built with Italian soul and passion that anybody can drive. Well, unless you live here in North America, where the brand hasn’t existed in quite some time. Plagued by temperamental build quality and poor service from an even worse dealer network, Alfa didn’t have a chance in a country where "it better get me to work" means a lot more than "it better set my soul a’ fire when I drive it."
Nonetheless, Alfa Romeo has been plotting a return to the states for quite some time. Now that Alfa Romeo is owned by parent company FIAT, it seems that most of its issues have been resolved. Hey, it’s 2008, and if you can’t build a reliable car by now, then maybe you should get out of the business.
Alfa Romeo’s new offerings are real delectable too, with a lot of their smaller cars taking a good slice of the public’s attention. Cars like the 159 sedan and the little Mito hatchback would do good competing against the BMW 3-series and Audi A3’s of the world. Still, it seems no matter how hard they try, it’s just not in the cards for the near future.
With a previous goal to relaunch the brand in 2010 being set back to 2011 due to what the company calls the "broadening global financial crisis", who knows when we will see these sexy cars back on U.S. roads.
Source: Automotive News
