Confirmed: Wester to Lead Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Maserati

What came as a rumor earlier today was confirmed by Italian manufacturer Fiat moments ago, as the carmaker announced the appointment of a single man, Harald J. Wester, as head of three of Fiat's brands: Abarth, Maserati and Alfa Romeo (he already led the first two and was now put in charge of Alfa Romeo as well).

"The purpose of bringing the Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Abarth brands under the same leadership is to emphasize and leverage the value of the shared qualities of the three brands in terms of their sporting characteristics and performance," Sergio Marchionne, Fiat CEO said when announcing the appointment.

"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. In his new role, Sergio Cravero will be well positioned to fully leverage his technical and commercial abilities."

Wester is replacing Sergio Cravero, who will assume responsibility for Product Portfolio Planning & Product Concept of Fiat Group Automobiles. In addition, Wester will also keep his position as Chief Technical Officer for Fiat Group and Fiat Group Automobiles.

The main goal of this corporate exercise is, as we said in our previous coverage, to bring Alfa Romeo back afloat, after several years of loses. So far, the brand puts its hopes on the MiTo released last year and the soon to be introduced Giulietta.

The two are supposed to remain the core of the Alfa line-up, an intermediary step, say some, towards the slow demise of Alfa, due to lack of diversity. Unless, as others hint, Fiat will use Chrysler's platforms to build two new cars in the US, likely replacements for the 159 and 166.