Alfa Romeo is coming back to Canada, discuss…

Story and photos by John LeBlanc OTTAWA — After departing abruptly almost two decades ago, fans of one Italian car brand have been crying, "Oh, Alfa, Alfa Romeo, wherefore art thou?" But with the arrival of one of the most-anticipated new 2014 models, the all-new Alfa Romeo 4C sports car coming next spring, parent Fiat’s sportiest brand is back in business in Canada. The question is: Will anybody care? Although it hasn’t sold a new vehicle in Canada or the U.S. since 1995, the Alfa Romeo brand is one of the oldest in the auto industry. Long before such famous Italian makes like Ferrari or Lamborghini began building cars, Alfa Romeo was founded in 1910. It quickly gained a reputation for making fast, beautiful, and, yes, expensive sports cars. An Italian state holding company took over in the early 1930s, but since 1986, the Alfa brand has been owned by  Italy’s biggest automaker, Fiat. Unfortunately — and like a lot of sporty European brands at the time, like Lancia, MG and Triumph — Alfa Romeo struggled to meet more imposing U.S. government auto regulations and fresh competition from Japan in the 1970s. By the mid-1990s, Alfa’s lone North American offerings were the Spider roadster (a fourth-generation of the Duetto two-seat roadster, made famous in the 1967 film The Graduate) and the 164, a front-wheel-drive, mid-sized sedan that shared a platform with the Saab 9000 and Fiat Thema. Many Alfa fans will tell you one of the pillars of the brand is its success on the racetracks of the world. Dating back to 1913, Alfa Romeo has always had a strong factory presence in racing, entering cars in a variety of different series, from Grand Prix and then Formula One, sports cars, touring cars and rallying. But since the late-1980s (when it left F1) the Italian automaker has become less involved in motorsports competition, with the last factory efforts coming with the mid-1990s Alfa 155 touring cars. While Alfa Romeo has shot a few publicity videos of its new mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, two-seat 4C on a racetrack, there are no current plans for the automaker to get back into racing, which may be one of the challenges for existing Alfa fans to get on board with the new generation of vehicles coming to Canada. One of the biggest appeals for Toronto Alfa Romeo enthusiast Vytas Svedas is the brand’s storied racing past. He currently campaigns with his father in vintage races with a 1966 Alfa Giulia Sprint GT and a 1972 GTV, and he thinks if Alfa wants to be taken seriously as it returns to selling cars in Canada, it has to get back on the racetrack. “One of the major reasons Alfa Romeo existed was to go racing. I think it’s a shame they are no longer in motorsports,” Svedas says. Of course, not all Alfa fans need a racetrack to enjoy their cars. The cars have always attracted buyers looking for design excellence and beauty. David Semel, seen at the top of this post) is the president of the Alfa Romeo Club of Ottawa. He’s been an Alfa owner since 1989, when he was originally shopping for the then-new Mazda Miata but found a 1988 Spider on a used car lot. In the end, he picked the Italian sports car over the Japanese sports car. Semel’s current ride is a 1964 Alfa Romeo Giulia SS (Sprint Speciale) he imported from Naples, Italy, in 2005. According to Semel, the Guilia SS is rare: Only 1,400 units were ever made, and he believes there are only three or four examples in Canada. And, he admits, the main attraction of the Giulia SS is the way the car looks, not how fast it can go. Semel says the Giulia SS was designed to win races car, but was “incredibly unsuccessful as a racing car.” Instead, he appreciates the innate Italian design heritage and craftsmanship that makes the tiny Alfa look like an exotic car in 2013 road traffic. “It’s not the fastest car in the world. But it’s such a pretty car. I love the lines. There’s not a straight surface on this car,” Semel says. Today in Europe, along with the new 4C car, Alfa Romeo only has two other models: the subcompact MiTO two-door hatchback, and the Giulietta compact hatchback (the vehicle our Dodge Dart is based on), but there are more new Alfas on the way. While the 4C two-seater is the only new Alfa Romeo confirmed for North America, Fiat is working on an Alfa Romeo version of the next generation Mazda MX-5 (speculated to arrive in 2015 as the “new Spider”) as well as a small crossover based on the Giulietta/Dart platform. There is no doubt the new-generation of Alfa Romeos coming to Canada will benefit from the overall improvements in new cars since the last examples were sold here almost two decades ago. But Alfa’s lack of awareness for those who don’t remember the glory days — let alone when the brand was pulling up stakes here in the 1990s — will be a marketing challenge for its owners at Fiat. Some existing Alfa fans are already skeptical. “If an Alfa came to Canada — and I would probably go to Alfa hell for saying this — I probably wouldn’t buy one. A 2013 Alfa will never be a collector’s item," Svedas says. However, fellow Alfa owner Semel has a more optimistic view about the brand’s return to Canada. “The 4C will always be a low-volume car,” Semel admits. “But the new Mazda-based Spider could be a real winner. I think that’s the car that could really be positive for Alfa Romeo in Canada.”

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