Alfa Romeo
Alfa Romeo are the builders of some of the finest luxury touring cars on the market. Traditionally they have been makers of sports cars but as the result of a change of direction by the Fiat group they are no focusing on high performance touring cars and leaving the sports cars to Ferrari. The new formula has proven to be very successful as sales have increased dramatically in recent years.
In large part the history of Alfa Romeo is similar to that of most other European car makers. They started as a small manufacturer in the days before World War One. Production remained small as there were a very large number of car makers competing in what at the time was a very small market. During the war they had to change over to producing military equipment. The side benefit of this was that when the war ended they had a much larger manufacturing facility that allowed them to produce more cars at a time when the market for them was expanding. The company had strong sales during the booming economy of the twenties but then really struggled during the depression years only to be saved by World War Two and the opportunity to go back into military production.
One of the things that have really helped Alfa Romeo to establish its reputation has been success in motor sports. While this is true of most sports car makers it is especially the case for Alfa Romeo. They were one of the real powerhouses of the early days of Grand Prix racing. In fact they were the ones who gave Ferrari his start building race cars. Ironically Ferrari would end up owning Alfa Romeo. The success in motor racing continued for years however they have moved from Grand Prix racing into touring car racing because of the high costs of Formula One. The fact that they and Ferrari are part of the same company now is another major reason for the decision to move away from Grand Prix racing.
After a few different changes of ownership they were eventually bought out by the Fiat group. At the time Alfa Romeo where really struggling and sales were very low. In fact at one point Alfa Romeo's sales were so low that they stopped selling cars in the United States altogether. Ultimately Alfa Romeo and Maserati were paired together under the control of Ferrari so that they could share the cost of marketing and developing new technology. Under the new arrangement Ferrari continued to focus on the sports car market while Alfa Romeo and Maserati went after the high performance luxury touring car market. The arrangement has been very successful with a large increase in sales for all three brands. Basically Alfa Romeo and Maserati share the same engines, platforms and in a lot of cases dealerships. This has dramatically reduced the costs involved and helped to make the company more profitable.