Piech was pretty clear, as he emphasized that Alfa Romeo, currently a money wasting machine, would become a profitable company under Volkswagen's ownership. Of course, Sergio Marchionne, Fiat's boss, quickly denied talks and stated that he wants to keep Alfa Romeo, so there was no room for talks.
Only that it appears that Sergio Marchionne actually held talks with Volkswagen on the Alfa Romeo sale, according to a report by Automotive News. The two sides held talks for around 4 months, but no decision has been made.
What's interesting is that Marchionne has even formed a team to handle the case and asked it to sketch two different scenarios. What would happen if Fiat decides to sell Alfa and what would happen if the Italians keep the brand.
The answers are still unclear, but the aforementioned source made a few suppositions that could help Marchionne make a decision.
First, Alfa Romeo can hardly reach its 300,000 units annual sales goal, so the brand not only affects Fiat's overall figures but also spends its money injected in new models. Five new Alfas are scheduled to hit the market in the next years. Secondly, by selling the Italian brand, Fiat would make room for expanding the alliance with Chrysler in Europe, so it would be able to bring Dodge on the Old Continent and sell its models just like it does with Alfa.
Obviously, there are also several disadvantages if Fiat decides to sell the iconic brand. Marchionne said that Alfa is going to sell 500,000 units by 2014 and, although figures are far from what the Italian executives expect, profits could emerge in the next years. Furthermore, Fiat uses Alfa as development platform for Chrysler models, as the Americans will base some of its models on platforms developed by the Italians in Europe.
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