On the second day of “Double Eleven”, on November 12th, Alfa Romeo China released the 2020 models of its two models. Just a few days ago, the Italian luxury car brand headquarters reported that its only existing small sports car 4C was discontinued; earlier, Alfa Romeo parent company FCA announced the merger with the French PSA, the brand said that the original plan The two sports car products 8C and GTV have been cancelled.
It was less than three years since Alfa Romeo entered the Chinese market for the last time. In the past three years, Alfa Romeo has launched two main models in China, the medium-sized four-door sedan Giulia and the medium-sized SUV Stelvio. The other two models, Giulietta and 4C, have not been introduced because they are too small. In fact, more than a decade ago, Alfa Romeo also briefly imported into the Chinese market, but he hurriedly withdrew without any achievements.
(Alfa Romeo 4C)
In 2017, Alfa Romeo returned to China, which was part of the late centuries-old Italian president of the FCA Group, Malchonet. In order to re-emerge against strong luxury car rivals such as BBA, Alfa Romeo launched the Giulia and Stelvio models from medium-sized cars and medium-sized SUVs. On the other hand, the main sports performance, launched on the basis of Giulia and Stelvio, equipped with Ferrari High performance version of the factory 2.9T engine Quadrifoglio(four-leaf clover). In addition to these main models, Alfa Romeo also took the lead and launched a very small competitive sports car 4C.
According to the second phase of the revival plan, Alfa Romeo will expand its main product line to launch higher-end, more expensive medium and large-sized cars and SUVs; as for the sports car series used to establish a brand image, 2007The limited edition Super 8C Competizione will be revived as the brand’s flagship sports car, while building a coupe GTV on the four-door sedan Giulia (also named Alpha) · The classic model in the history of Romeo) .
(Alpha Romeo’s original grand plan)
But Romeo failed to wait until the second step. In 2018, Marjorie died suddenly. In 2019, FCA decided to merge with the French PSA group, which was in the same situation. The newly formed FCA-PSA Group sees comprehensive electrification as a lifeline, and Alfa Romeo is an important member of the FCA camp. Europe’s increasingly stringent emission standards have always been the life of the FCA, coupled with the pressure to cut costs, the brand of sports cars that are good for the brand, but not easy to earn money, but also push up the average emissions, can not escape the fate of the guillotine .
The Chinese market should have been an important hope for the revival of Alfa Romeo, but the results turned out to be counterproductive. In 2017, Alfa Romeo entered China, almost immediately catching up with the first sales decline in the Chinese auto market for more than 20 years. In a shrinking market environment, facing a pragmatic and cautious consumer is not ideal for a distinctive new brand.
More difficult is that AlLaw Romeo is almost unacceptable in China: the Chinese people prefer the long wheelbase space, but Giulia and Stelvio are the same level of space. The Chinese people began to pursue the technical configuration inside the car. The car system is short of the entire FCA. The Chinese people are paying more and more attention to quality and after-sales, but the quality of Italian cars is terrible. Alfa Romeo, who lacks domestic distributor resources, often opens with Maserati, and the market is pulled up. Most of the time.
In 2017, just after returning to the country, the Alfa Romeo dealers were exposed to a 65% discount. This year, Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo 2018 Annual Report The total sales of the two models in China were only 4,000 units. External comparison, this figure is not as good as the half-month sales of a BBA competitor’s model; internal comparison, this figure in Alfa Romeo global sales accounted for only 3%, or even less than half of the more expensive Maserati sales. The Chinese market, which was originally expected to be high, has not only failed to become a straw, but has lost its resources but has not produced a harvest.
Before and after the merger with the PSA Group, the FCA cut off the Alfa Romeo brand, which is destined to make money for the existing sports car products and future sports car plans. The PSA Group is using its eCMP platform to build Citroen and Peugeot brand small electric vehicles, which will help FCA’s already worrying emissions levels after the merger. FCA’s brands, including Alfa Romeo, are also expected to use PSA’s electric technology to create their own pure electric vehicle emergency.
(eCMP and CMP platforms)
But Italian brands, including Alfa Romeo and Maserati, have always used engine sound waves as an important selling point. Total electrification has a greater impact on them, but now they have to jump to full electrification earlier. . The existing electric technology accumulation of the PSA Group is not leading. The eCMP electric platform that has been put into production is only based on the transformation of the CMP fuel vehicle platform. The technical ceiling is not high and it is difficult to cope with the future era of electric vehicles. Since the merger of the FCA-PSA Group has finalized the embrace of a comprehensive electric road, it is imperative to determine the development path of their respective brands, and then build a new generation of electric platforms in accordance with the unified needs. But this process will consume a lot of resources and funds, and it will not be completed overnight.
Although there have been signs of shrinking, the development of the BBA brand in the past two years proves that there is still growth potential for luxury brands in China. Alfa Romeo is currently in China’s predicament. The European R&D headquarters does not understand the Chinese market demand and does not pay attention to it. Otherwise, even with FCA’s research and development capabilities, Giulia and Stelvio hope to be shaped more suitable for the country.
In the country, because of the word “Romeo”, Alfa Romeo is often associated with the unfortunate couple in Shakespeare’s pen. But in fact, the relationship between Alfa Romeo and the “Romeo” is no different from Wu Dalang and your friend of Wu. Whether at home or in the world, this “Romeo” never wants to wait for the “Juliet” that the wishers are hooked on. It can only be expected that the modern business society operates the law: ruthless, but fair.