Chinese-built Alfas will be sold in 2009
Alfaholics, you may want to sit down for a minute. Fiat and Chinese car-maker Chery have signed a joint venture agreement for the Italian car-maker to manufacturer 175,000 cars a year in China. The venture is expected to start in 2009 with production consisting of a combination of Fiats, Alfas and Cherys.
Fiat already has joint ventures in China building trucks, buses and components, but these ambitious plans are the first to include Alfa Romeo, the car maker more Italian than prosciutto. Extending Alfa production into China is expected to help Fiat cater for demand when the company launches Alfa Romeo in China and re-launches the brand stateside, both by 2009.
Chery already builds engines for Fiat (Chinese law requires joint ventures involving foreign partners to locally source some parts of manufacture), and earlier this year signed a deal to build a new Chrysler supermini, for export to America.
Is this Alfa adhering to modern times or just plain sacrilegious? You decide.