10 Comments »

pumadog writes:
Wouldn’t you call that “postponed” instead of “canceled”? The 2013 Mito update was in question as soon as the Punto got postponed. But I think the new Mito is still part of that “6 cars to save Alfa” Car Magazine article with Marchionne interview. So your headline appears to be misleading.
# 25 July 2012 10:34

pumadog writes:
PS. Why don’t you link the source (Auto Premium)?
# 25 July 2012 10:36

Diego writes:
A mistake was indeed made in translating the article from our Dutch site. Edited, thanks for the feedback. :-)
# 25 July 2012 11:25

pumadog writes:
Thanks for correcting! There’s enough disappointment around Alfa’s ongoing postponing already. :-)
# 25 July 2012 12:16

Diego writes:
Indeed there is. Hopefully they can re-establish themselves overseas… But we’ll halve to patient. :-)
# 25 July 2012 12:37

Diego writes:
to be patient*
# 25 July 2012 12:38

Alfetta159 writes:
It makes financial sense since the Punto which is also scheduled for Mirafiori is also postponed. Perhaps something will work out with Mazda? Anyway as long as the Giulia, CSUV MX5/Duetto and 4C are on track I’m okay if the Mito needs to be delayed to save money for the rest of the Chrysler purchase. After that Fiat will have access to Chrysler’s cashflow and so a lot more financial fire power.
Surprisingly the Mito Twin Air has been getting very good reviews from the British press who used to dismiss the car as average. I hope it can soldier on until the new model comes along.
# 25 July 2012 21:39

Diego writes:
They’re doing pretty well overseas now, let’s hope Europe follows in the coming years… I think the main problem here is that the Italians have a bad reputation concerning build quality, while the Americans don’t have that prejudice. Why else does everyone pay a lot more money for a less attractive, and often less fun car to drive (the Germans)?
Plus of course also the lack of new models. We’ll see what happens with the 500L here in Europe. :-)
# 26 July 2012 00:23

Alfetta159 writes:
People buy German cars because their marketing is excellent. The customer service is in a different league compared to Fiat. Added to that their PR helped by their massive advertising budgets with media is also great! This has been carefully built up over years, while Italians have managed to destroy their reputation despite having better products. Once a reputation is destroyed it takes a lot of money to rebuild. You are absolutely right that this prejudice does not exist in the US market. And given the difference in economic health of the two continents it makes sense to launch Alfa first there. The danger is of course alienating European Alfista.
But with Chrysler’s cash flow they’ll have money to change that!
# 26 July 2012 06:56

Diego writes:
I’m afraid the alienating has already begun a while ago. You wouldn’t want to know how many people have forcedly needed to trade in their 159 for a German/French car because of the lack of a new model and even the lack of believable information towards the dealers (none of them can say when the new models will be ariving since they keep on getting postponed). Postponing a new Spyder would be understandable, but leaving such an enormous amount of time in between two different flagships is just ridiculous, causing a chain reaction because Alfa dealers are desperate meaning less and less points of sales for when the new models wìll eventually be arriving… Very few people are willing to buy a same model twice, which is perfectly understandable.
# 26 July 2012 09:58

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