Alfa Romeo boss optimistic of future

Alfa Romeo’s boss has acknowledged that the company’s collection of vehicles and variety of services have not been upbeat in recent years. Managing Director Andrew Humberstone of the Fiat Group admitted that Alfa is unsuccessful in terms of the products and services it offer.

He advised that the carmaker needs to return as a multi-product brand. Humberstone said that much is still needed to be done to elevate the firm’s ranking in the JD Power consumer satisfaction survey.

Despite what Humberstone anticipates to be a complex year for Alfa, things are still looking positive for Alfa in the UK. Sales increased by 52 per cent between 2008 and 2009 mainly due to Alfa’s Mito car. It accounted for nearly 70 per cent of Alfa’s UK sales last year.

Approximately 9,067 of Alfa’s 2009 sales were MiTo. Alfa’s new Giulietta is also coming soon, so Humberstone is still optimistic about the company’s future.

Andrew Sproston, Sales Director of Fiat, informed that 75 per cent of the customers who purchased MiTo are new to the Alfa brand. Traditionally, Alfa customers were men who are in their 40s. But with the introduction of MiTo, Alfa experienced a drop on the age bracket of consumers by ten years, and a fifty-fifty split between female and male buyers.

Sproston is also expecting that the new Lusso version of MiTo would be the top selling model, with up to 40 per cent of anticipated sales. Meanwhile, the Cloverleaf version would likely achieve eight per cent of new MiTo sales.