Published on May 1st, 2014 | by Daniel Sherman Fernandez
0Alfa Romeo To Stand On Its Own
Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has decided to turn Alfa Romeo into a stand-alone company just like Maserati and Ferrari. This part of his latest plan to revive the struggling brand. Alfa currently is part of Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A., alongside the core Fiat marque, upscale Lancia brand, Fiat Professional commercial vans and the Abarth performance subbrand. Sources said Marchionne will announce that Alfa’s new status when he unveils his new strategy for Fiat-Chrysler on May 6.
Alfa will become a stand-alone legal entity within Fiat Chrysler with a publicly disclosed profit and loss statement. “Marchionne needs to make Alfa’s P&L clearly visible to make this new relaunch attempt into a credible business proposition,” one of the sources said. Turning Alfa Romeo into a global brand is one of the cornerstones of the CEO’s plan to bring Fiat’s money-losing European automotive operations back to profit by mid-decade.The stakes are high: a successful re-launch of languishing Alfa would solidify Marchionne’s legacy as a top auto executive as well as secure the economic well-being of the world’s seventh-largest automaker and its 226,000 employees worldwide. Fiat plans to develop a new line of rear-wheel-drive sedans and SUVs to bolster Alfa Romeo and take on premium carmakers such as BMW, The models will start to hit the market in 2016. High-end versions of the cars will be equipped with engines developed by Ferrari.