In an interview in New York on Wednesday, Fiat S.p.A. and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne revealed that one of the first priorities of the partnership is to decide how to handle the Dodge and Alfa Romeo brands, which he sees as American and European counterparts. It sounds crazy but one of the scenarios being examined by Marchionne is the possibility to sell Alfa Romeo models under the Dodge brand in the U.S. and Dodge cars as Alfa Romeos in Europe.
According to the CEO, the two brands share a common identity and therefore should work closer in the near future.
"The level of competition between these two brands is tremendous because they are both going after the same customer," said Marchionne. "Dodge is the American muscle car, while Alfa Romeo is the European muscle car. How we dovetail these two brands is very important."
While we"re having a hard time trying to find any current Dodge model that could fit in Alfa"s European range - especially if you take into consideration the different needs of buyers on the other side of the Atlantic, we could see several Alfa models including the MiTo making it to the States with the Dodge logo.
But wouldn"t such a move dilute Alfa"s premium image? Unless that is, Fiat is considering to abandon its plans to re-introduce the Italian firm to American buyers.
In any case, Marchionne said that he wants to make a final decision on the future of the two brands by the end of the July, so it won"t be long before we learn more details.
