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Fiat forms new group for Alfa, Maserati and Abarth
Scrutiny: Maserati and Arbarth boss Harald Wester will take control of Alfa Romeo under the Fiat Group's new structure.
Maserati, Abarth chief now responsible for determining Alfa Romeo’s fate
25 January 2010
By TERRY MARTIN
FIAT has formed a new brand group for its Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth marques as the Italian manufacturer continues to deliberate over the future of Alfa Romeo.
Fiat Group chief executive Sergio Marchionne last week announced that Maserati and Abarth chief executive Harald Wester – who is also chief technical officer for Fiat Group and Fiat Group Automobiles – would add Alfa Romeo to his responsibilities.
As GoAuto reported last month, Mr Marchionne has ordered a strategic review of Alfa Romeo to ascertain whether the brand should be reborn through the new Chrysler alliance or left as is, possibly with no substantial new investment after the 147-replacing Giulietta is launched at the Geneva motor show in March.
A product-development freeze on medium and large-sized Alfa Romeo models is understood to be one of two alternatives Fiat is considering for the brand.
The other option is to renew Alfa’s line-up using Chrysler platforms, replacing the ageing 159 medium-sized sedan and wagon and the discontinued 166 large sedan with rebodied models built in North America but still unique to Alfa and sold worldwide.
 Left: Fiat Group chief executive Sergio Marchionne.
In announcing the latest management move last week, which sees current Alfa CEO Sergio Cravero reassigned to Fiat Group Automobiles product portfolio planning and product concepts, Mr Marchionne said: “The purpose of bringing the Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth brands under the same leadership is to emphasise and leverage the value of the shared qualities of the three brands in terms of their sporting characteristics and performance.
“Harald Wester, who has demonstrated his enormous commitment on several fronts and achieved optimum results, will bring strong leadership capabilities and solid technical experience and know-how to this project.”
At the Detroit motor show earlier this month, Mr Marchionne told journalists that Alfa Romeo was not for sale.
A decision is also still to be announced on whether Alfa Romeo will be reintroduced in the US.
“We need to be realistic on what Alfa should do,” Mr Marchionne told assembled media.
In a speech at the Automotive News World Congress, held on the sidelines of the Detroit show, Mr Marchionne also outlined Fiat’s intentions with its Chrysler venture.
“We are combining Fiat’s expertise in the smaller car segments with Chrysler’s in the medium and large segments. And most important, we are achieving economies of scale that will generate substantial benefits for us both,” he said.
“The key to this partnership is that Fiat and Chrysler fit – not as patches stitched together to enlarge a quilt, but as pieces of a puzzle that form a coherent whole.
“This is a partnership in the truest sense – an alliance forged in mutual opportunity. It is growth for a purpose – growth that will create value rather than inflate numbers.
“And it is, I believe, the kind of alliance that must replace our industry’s long tradition of mergers for the sake of growth alone – which, in the long term, produce no growth at all.”
As part of the strategic review of Alfa Romeo, which is due for completion by mid-April, Mr Wester will identify potential synergies between Alfa and Maserati.
He brings to the task experience at the highest level. He has worked for Fiat as chief technical officer since 2004 – adding the Maserati and Abarth responsibilities in August 2008 and January 2009 respectively – and was director of product development at Ferrari at the turn of last decade before joining Magna Steyr as group president of engineering and chief technical officer (research, development and technologies) in 2002.
Mr Wester also worked for Volkswagen AG during the 1990s, serving as general manager of vehicle research and new concepts (1991-95) and then as program manager for the Audi A2 and special vehicles (1995-99).
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