Alfa sales lag behind Lancia

[Justin McArdle]

https://europe.autonews.com/move/alfa-romeo-gets-new-europe-boss-sales-plunge

Alfa's sales in the European Union dropped 36 percent to 50,830 vehicles last year, according to industry association ACEA. Its volume for the whole of the EU was lower than that of Lancia, which sold 58,903 units of its sole product, the Ypsilon hatchback, in its only market, Italy

[LOFTUS]

Poor showing from Alfa who have had the sort of money thrown at them that Lancia would have liked .  The problem is not with the cars , the Stelvio and Giulia are very good as I drive one as my everyday transport when the Flavia is confined to the garage in winter .
From my experience many Alfas are sold through Fiat and Jeep dealers who just do not have the enthusiasm and experienced salesmen to push the marque , Jack of all trades masters of none comes to mind. Sad to say but they could suffer the same slow lingering death as Lancia unless FCA promote Alfa properly or sell it on to another manufacturer . 

[chriswgawne]

I tried to buy a new or very low mileage Stelvio Quadrifoglio last Spring from the main dealer in Slough and it was all going quite well when the dealer said 'Chris, you haven't grasped the fact that residual value problems  of high spec Alfa Romeos are a thing of the past. Today they are better than BMW or Mercedes'.
He then went on to overpromise on reliability.
I ended up buying a 315bhp Golf R sight unseen  from a well known independent dealer near Birmingham and when I went to collect the car, he told me that they had recently attended an auction where there was a 7k mile, 6 month old  Stelvio Quadrifoglio  ( list price around £75k) which sold for £38k.
And I have since learned that they have poor reliability, mechanical and electronics.
A wonderful drive though there is no doubt.
Chris

[Paul Greenway]

The problem with AR at the moment is that build quality and aftermarket sales/servicing isn't as robust as the German brands. Same is to be said for Maserati (and was for Lancia- although I appreciate only the Ypsilon is still manufactured). Car wise the Giulia & Stelvio compare well and residuals certainly compete with the Germans too(exception to this is Porsche)- simply because there are too many 3-Series/A4/C-Class and X3/Q5/GLC if looking through Autotrader & believing What Car? percentage residuals tell me anything. Out there it is a buyers market which is flooded with German brands.

Reliability wise the Alfas compare too now & if my experience over the last 20 years is anything to go by my 147/156/Brera/Delta 3/Thesis have all been more reliable than the A4/A6/5-series/B-class that we have owned over that timescale. We have had three Volvo's too which have all been very good in this respect but we are not comparing them here.

If the quality improves and the buying experience/after sales care is developed better with people who understand the products then there is no reason why AR/Lancia/Maserati cannot get their act together and produce good all round vehicles worthy of their respective marques heritage.

As for auction results- there are always bargains to be had and as a rule, the more expensive the car the greater the price drop. But if you compare a Stelvio Quadrafoligo v a RS4 Avant (nearest Audi equivalent on price as no direct comparable SUV) v BMW X3M Competition v MB GLC 63 AMG which are similar priced as std- over £75k (although a whole host of toys an be added to all) and look at the one year old prices for sub 10k mileages, the Alfa is shading it as far as used values are concerned & I for one would always choose the Stelvio over the others.