Alfa Romeo Giulietta
Volkswagen is on a buying spree now a days that would help its ambition of becoming the biggest automaker on the planet by displacing Toyota Motor co. as No. 1
According to reports from Automotive News Europe, Volkswagen is keen to buy Fiat’s troubled sporty brand Alfa Romeo. The report has been confirmed to ANE by two senior executives from VW who did not want to be named. A high-placed Fiat executive on the other hand has told ANE, on condition of anonymity that “We have no intention of selling the brand to VW”.
Fiat has already charted a turnaround plan for Alfa which was announced by CEO Sergio Marchionne in April this year. The plan hopes to turn Alfa Romeo into a “full line premium car maker” selling 500,000 units by 2014 helped by six new model launches one of which, the Giulietta, has already been launched.
VW CEO Martin Winterkorn had told reporters in April that he admired Alfa but said VW group is in the middle of taking over Porsche and is not planning to add another brand.
Volkswagen lately has developed serious appetite for anything Italian. The company recruited from top Alfa executives Walter de’ Silva as its design chief and Luca De Meo as marketing boss. It also owns Italian supercar brand Lamborghini and took a 90 percent stake in Italdesign Giugiaro earlier this year.
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