Alfa Romeo, Mazda and Volkswagen

By Christopher A, Sawyer

Undoubtedly Mazda's best-known vehicle, but will an affordable sports car built off this base be enough to establish AlfaRomeo in North America?I was listening to VW Group of America President and CEO Jonathan Browning’s speech to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit when I suddenly realized that any plans to revive Alfa Romeo in the U.S. will be a struggle. Barely a week before Browning’s speech came word that Sergio Marchionne was talking to Mazda about building a sports car together. This quickly turned into an announcement that the next Mazda MX5 (the Miata) would be built alongside a new Alfa Spider in Japan.

Many were stunned by the announcement, but it was typical of Marchionne. He has often stated the need for Fiat to build and sell five to six million vehicles per year if it is going to survive and prosper. Below that level, he says, costs escalate rapidly. There isn’t enough volume across which to spread engineering and development expenditures, especially when governments are piling ever more regulations and China is waiting in the wings to unleash its capacity and cost advantages.

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Fiat-Chrysler From the Inside

By Christopher A. Sawyer

This past June, I had the chance to participate in Chrysler’s media drive day at the Chelsea Proving Ground. It’s a favorite in that it’s possible to drive one of each of the available models from Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Fiat. That meant finally getting some seat time in the Fiat 500, as well as scoping out the changes made to the rest of the lineup post-Cerberus.

For the most part, I was impressed with what had been accomplished in a very short time, and to a lineup that — except for the 300/Charger/Challenger, Fiat 500 and Jeep Grand Cherokee and Wrangler — was not built on the best foundations. It made me wonder just how well the relationship between the two companies was progressing.

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