Despite its status as an icon of Italian style and speed, its sales are mediocre, it struggles to exceed a one percent market share in its main European market, and it is losing money.Even though it has had the culture of motor-racing coursing through its valves and pistons since its inception nearly a century ago, years of poor-quality parts and service have deprived it of the premium status enjoyed by Volkswagen's Audi and BMW.
When the Fiat group, best known as a maker of cheap, small cars, bought Alfa in 1986, its factories were empty of ideas, with no investment in technology or product development.
Fiat's chief executive told analysts last year that Alfa is our hardest asset that we have that we have to work on it. Now rising to that challenge is Luca De Meo - at 40, the youngest executive within the Fiat industrial group - who brings a badge of success from overseeing the recovery of the Fiat brand, but success for Alfa will depend on him reinventing the brand magic of the 1950s and 1960s for a younger generation.
Enzo Ferrari used to race Alfa Romeos before he started up his own company, Alfa won the first Formula One World Championship in 1950, and in its 1960s heyday, cameo appearances in movies such as The Graduate and The Italian Job showcased the soft sleekness of its design.
So they have come up with the Alfa Junior.
Of Fiat's three car brands, analysts say Alfa has the greatest potential to produce the biggest profit margins. So much is hanging on this autumn's launch of the Junior, a new model compact car. Aiming at a younger driver than the brand is currently attracting, it will be a big step for Alfa. If it proves to be a hit, the Junior and the upcoming 149 sedan could make up nearly half of Alfa's sales volume. It will not be easy: some equity analysts doubt Alfa will be able to meet its unit sales target of 300,000 for 2010, let alone break even in 2008. They suspect a planned return to the United States has been postponed by a year to 2010. But Alfa is making limited progress. De Meo's predecessor, Antonio Baravalle, had been focusing on two key markets where he wanted to re-launch the brand: the United Kingdom and Germany. The results of his efforts are starting to show, with British sales rising.
When the Fiat group, best known as a maker of cheap, small cars, bought Alfa in 1986, its factories were empty of ideas, with no investment in technology or product development.
Fiat's chief executive told analysts last year that Alfa is our hardest asset that we have that we have to work on it. Now rising to that challenge is Luca De Meo - at 40, the youngest executive within the Fiat industrial group - who brings a badge of success from overseeing the recovery of the Fiat brand, but success for Alfa will depend on him reinventing the brand magic of the 1950s and 1960s for a younger generation.
Enzo Ferrari used to race Alfa Romeos before he started up his own company, Alfa won the first Formula One World Championship in 1950, and in its 1960s heyday, cameo appearances in movies such as The Graduate and The Italian Job showcased the soft sleekness of its design.
So they have come up with the Alfa Junior.
Of Fiat's three car brands, analysts say Alfa has the greatest potential to produce the biggest profit margins. So much is hanging on this autumn's launch of the Junior, a new model compact car. Aiming at a younger driver than the brand is currently attracting, it will be a big step for Alfa. If it proves to be a hit, the Junior and the upcoming 149 sedan could make up nearly half of Alfa's sales volume. It will not be easy: some equity analysts doubt Alfa will be able to meet its unit sales target of 300,000 for 2010, let alone break even in 2008. They suspect a planned return to the United States has been postponed by a year to 2010. But Alfa is making limited progress. De Meo's predecessor, Antonio Baravalle, had been focusing on two key markets where he wanted to re-launch the brand: the United Kingdom and Germany. The results of his efforts are starting to show, with British sales rising.
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