Here’s a story of some old fashioned Aussie persistence from the 2013 Drag Week event held in the United States. John Faraone and his crew from Perth shipped over their mega crazy 9.4 litre V8 turbocharged Valiant Charger to compete in the busy schedule and what must be one of the ultimate run what you brung street car events.
When you watch the video after the break you’ll see Faraone had his share of issues to overcome but by the end of the week he was all smiles.
[Thanks to John for the tip]
Suddenly last week’s story that the Volkswagen Group could rebrand itself as Auto Union now makes a lot more sense. Automotive News reports Volkswagen is considering a takeover of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). It’s a move that’s been largely interpreted as means for Ferdinand Piech to achieve his aim of making the Volkswagen Group the world’s largest automaker.
If the Volkswagen Group did add FCA to its portfolio of automotive brands that would take it well beyond the reach of Toyota and General Motors as the highest selling car maker on the planet. Volkswagen Group could claim 14 million annual sales, around four million ahead of Toyota and GM.
German publication Manager Magazin first broke the news that representatives from the Volkswagen Group and FCA boards have met to discuss Volkswagen’s buy-in, although both companies deny any discussions have taken place. It’s thought that Piech has approached the Agnelli-Elkann family to acquire its 30% stake in FCA.
Previously, Volkswagen sources have coveted the Alfa Romeo brand. Under the watch of Sergio Marchionne and through the FCA agreement Alfa is enjoying a resurgence. On the back of the 4C the brand has recently relaunched in the United States after an absence of almost 20 years.
Other major brands under the Fiat-Chrysler umbrella include Dodge, Ferrari, Jeep, Lancia and Maserati. The addition of Jeep to the Volkswagen Group would help it quench the world’s insatiable thirst for SUVs.
Clearly, there’s a long way to go for this deal to take place, if it ever will. It’s expected the 30% share in FCA would be valued between US$5–6 billion. As it happens Volkswagen Group has a lazy US$24–25 billion in cash reserves up its sleeve.
If this VW-Fiat-Chrysler deal goes ahead then rebranding the entire group as Auto Union makes absolute sense. The Auto Union changes may still go ahead irrespective of the FCA deal. Taking a big picture view, though, Auto Union becoming known as the world’s largest car maker sits perfectly with Piech’s grand plan.
[Source: Automotive News | Pic: Raoul Pop]
Car magazine brings word of some great news from Italian icons Alfa Romeo. In fact we’re not sure you’ll hear anything better than this as far as Alfa is concerned. Yep, it’s even better, on the whole, than anything to do with the gorgeous 4C.
Fiat-Chrysler CEO, Sergio Marchionne, hopes to reach 300,000 annual sales for Alfa Romeo and to achieve that he wants to lure buyers of traditional German saloons to the Italian brand. To do that he needs to get the driving dynamics of Alfa Romeos to compare favourably against BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
And here it comes.
To do that Marchionne wants to ditch front-wheel drive platforms from Alfa Romeo in favour of rear and all-wheel drive models. That’s right, no more FWD models from Alfa and in their place will be RWD models to take it up to the likes of the BMW 3 and 5 Series, and the Mercedes C and E Class.
Apparently Alfa plans to introduce four new models, two saloons and two SUVs, with a company insider telling Car: “Sure, design is important, Italian flair is important, top-notch quality is important. But it is impossible to challenge Audi, BMW and Mercedes if you cannot match the Germans in terms of vehicle dynamics and driving pleasure.”
Amen brother.
The association with the Ateco Group and Alfa Romeo and Fiat, which began 15 years ago, will come to an end on 1 May. Distribution for the two Italian marques will then fall under the banner of subsidiary company Chrysler Australia. All Alfa Romeo and Fiat dealerships around the country will also come under the control of Chrysler Australia.
Neville Crichton, Executive Chairman of the Ateco Group said, “Alfa Romeo and Fiat have at their heart a real, live passion for life and Ateco has been fully involved in that, whether it has been the yacht, the Alfa Romeo G1 or motorsport with the Fiat 500 Australian Grand Prix and class-winning performances at Bathurst with Alfa Romeo.
“But while this makes it all the more hard to say good bye to these iconic brands, we know that it is that passion that has driven us over the past 15 years and which has made them successful once again in Australia. We know that they now have are prepared and positioned for a strong future in Australia and New Zealand, something of which I and everyone who has worked on them at Ateco can justifiably be very proud.â€
Ateco’s full statement can be read after the break.
UPDATE: Chrysler Australia’s statement has also been added below.
Volkswagen’s quest to grab the world’s biggest car maker title from Toyota has taken a new twist with news it wants to buy Alfa Romeo. It’s all a bit like shcoolyard secrets at the moment, though, with executives from Volkswagen and Fiat only willing to provide quotes on condition of anonymity.
Automotive News Europe says not one, but two Volkswagen employees have said they are “seriously interested” in purchasing Alfa Romeo. In reply the secret Fiat exec told ANE, “We have no intention at all of selling the brand to VW.”
Rumours of VW’s interest in the iconic Italian manufacturer emerged late last year. Indeed, in April Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn admitted he admired Alfa, but there were currently no plans to add another brand to the Volkswagen Group.
Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne reckons they can push Alfa Romeo into the premium segment and achieve 500,000 sales per year by 2014. Just 102,000 sales were registered in 2009. It’s certainly an ambitious target.
Credit Suisse motoring expert Arndt Ellinghorst thinks it may be too ambitious and says the might of the Volkswagen Group would be necessary, “Maybe Alfa could get to a half million unit sales a year, but only after the brand is sold to Volkswagen.”
Whatever the outcome of this latest motoring marriage something needs to be done to support Alfa Romeo. It is understood the maker has been costing Fiat €200–400 million per year in losses over the last decade.
Follow the source link below and to learn how some analysts think Volkswagen should add Alfa Romeo to its portfolio at the expense of the Seat brand.
[Source: Automotive News Europe]