Alfieri Spyder

highlander

Member
Messages
5,214
Thanks. FCA seem very confused about how to handle this situation. Ask anyone who likes cars to rank Alfa and Maser with regard to perceived exclusivity, performance, price point and brand value and I think Maserati will come out ahead but FCA don't seem to realise this. The message is unclear and needs to be sorted out as it appears there is going to be too much brand overlap which, ultimately, has to hurt Alfa more than Maserati IMHO.
Disagree here, think brand image with the suv from maser could put Alfa above unfortunately...l :(
 

Classico

Member
Messages
895
I do know for a fact after spending a day a the Ferrari factory in late September that under no circumstances will Ferrari have anything to do with the Diesel engine but are in joint development with the V6 with Alfa and Maser. In fact the Maserati V8 and 6 are on adjacent production lines with exclusively Ferrari technicians. The fact the V8 has a different crank throw ie 180 as opposed to 90 degrees is the only difference below the head in structural terms.

My view, for what it is worth, is that Maserati have moved their focus to mainstream with E Class and S class alternatives and the Alfieri may be no more than a vision halo car to keep the faithful interested while Alfa is being pushed as the wild kid on the block with the new Guilietta out later this year with rear wheel drive plus the Guilia v6 550 bhp beast. Put that in the same showroom as the new 6C and it could be Maser 10 years ago.
I hope I'm wrong. I retrieved my Alfieri deposit from Meridien who said they can't see the Alfieri until 2018 for deliveries in the UK. It will be so far behind by then even Kia are launching a Grantourer with super car performance soon.

Agree with a lot of this.

Maybe FCA need to be taking a few more chances, but if the money's not there, it's not there.

Still, disappointing they've chosen to pump more money into Alfa than Maserati.

I'm still not convinced the Alfa 6c will be the all-round package. As with the Giulia QV, technically sound, but stylistically forgettable for mine.
 

Emtee

New Member
Messages
8,446
I do know for a fact after spending a day a the Ferrari factory in late September that under no circumstances will Ferrari have anything to do with the Diesel engine but are in joint development with the V6 with Alfa and Maser. In fact the Maserati V8 and 6 are on adjacent production lines with exclusively Ferrari technicians. The fact the V8 has a different crank throw ie 180 as opposed to 90 degrees is the only difference below the head in structural terms.

My view, for what it is worth, is that Maserati have moved their focus to mainstream with E Class and S class alternatives and the Alfieri may be no more than a vision halo car to keep the faithful interested while Alfa is being pushed as the wild kid on the block with the new Guilietta out later this year with rear wheel drive plus the Guilia v6 550 bhp beast. Put that in the same showroom as the new 6C and it could be Maser 10 years ago.
I hope I'm wrong. I retrieved my Alfieri deposit from Meridien who said they can't see the Alfieri until 2018 for deliveries in the UK. It will be so far behind by then even Kia are launching a Grantourer with super car performance soon.

Many thanks for this Barry. Very insightful. Sadly I do get their thinking. The audience for AR is so much larger than for Maserati. Worst case scenario is that the Trident could go the way of Lancia. I fear the move into Merc / Beemer territory could be an experiment in last chances. Sad, and hopefully I'm wrong.
 

Michael

Member
Messages
340
I do know for a fact after spending a day a the Ferrari factory in late September that under no circumstances will Ferrari have anything to do with the Diesel engine but are in joint development with the V6 with Alfa and Maser. In fact the Maserati V8 and 6 are on adjacent production lines with exclusively Ferrari technicians. The fact the V8 has a different crank throw ie 180 as opposed to 90 degrees is the only difference below the head in structural terms.

My view, for what it is worth, is that Maserati have moved their focus to mainstream with E Class and S class alternatives and the Alfieri may be no more than a vision halo car to keep the faithful interested while Alfa is being pushed as the wild kid on the block with the new Guilietta out later this year with rear wheel drive plus the Guilia v6 550 bhp beast. Put that in the same showroom as the new 6C and it could be Maser 10 years ago.
I hope I'm wrong. I retrieved my Alfieri deposit from Meridien who said they can't see the Alfieri until 2018 for deliveries in the UK. It will be so far behind by then even Kia are launching a Grantourer with super car performance soon.

100% agree. A real shame that FCA can't develop both brands simultaneously. It seems that Alfa is the brand FCA really fancy developing - the Alfa logo is on the F1 cars and all the hospitality etc. I'm guessing FCA feel that Maserati is off the ground and the new QP6 and Ghibli are quirky alternatives to BMW/Merc. So if FCA's love is going to Alfa hold onto your QP5's, 3200/4200 (particularly those rare Spyders - a cheap 8c alternative) and Gran Turismo's and wait to see if the Alfa 6c is the way to go.