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VW Chairman Piech waits to pounce on Alfa Romeo
September 30, 2010 06:01 CET
UPDATED: Sept. 30 14:00 CET
VW Chairman Piech says he is ready to wait until Fiat gives up and decides to sell its struggling Alfa Romeo brand.
PARIS (Reuters) -- Volkswagen AG Chairman Ferdinand Piech has set his sights on Fiat S.p.A.'s Alfa Romeo as the next brand in his vast automotive empire.
Piech, who often prefers to speak almost in riddles, chose a frontal attack prior to the opening of the biennial Paris auto show today.
"We are patient and have time ... you won't hear anything in the next two years," he said when asked about repeated market speculation that VW is interested in Alfa.
Piech's comments were a challenge to Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne, who has said he has no intention of selling money-losing Alfa Romeo.
"Let them wait," was Marchionne's reaction to Piech's comments.
Marchionne said Fiat will relaunch Alfa as a fully fledged premium automaker with an expanded lineup.
"If someone comes with 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion)... But I am joking, I have no intention at all of selling Alfa," he told reporters at the Paris auto show.
Piech waits for Fiat fail
A motor racing fanatic with an appetite for pedigree brands, Piech left no doubt that he is waiting for Fiat to fail in its efforts to fix the struggling near-premium Alfa brand, best known for the MiTo subcompact and Brera sports coupe.
Last year, only 102,000 Alfas were sold -- a decline of 1 percent from the previous year and far from Fiat's more ambitious 300,000-unit target.
"Alfa is the one brand with the biggest potential for improvement," Piech said, in a more characteristic oblique attack against Marchionne, a highly respected manager widely considered to have rescued Fiat from failure.
Piech even made fun of himself a bit, correcting comments he made last September that a "dozen was easier to remember than (the current) 10" when it came to the number of brands controlled by Volkswagen.
"Thirteen is my lucky number," Piech joked with a broad smile spreading across his face.
Alfa has a potential value between 700 million and 1 billion euros, according to financial analysts polled by Automotive News Europe early this month.
Marchionne plans to boost Alfa sales to 500,000 units in 2014 from 102,000 last year.
For the latest 2010 Paris auto show coverage, check Automotive News Europe's special Web page. Click here
VW is aggressively expanding as part of its plans to overtake Toyota Motor Corp. as the world's largest carmaker by 2018.
After arranging last year to acquire Porsche AG as Volkswagen's 10th brand, Piech is counting on eventually gaining control of truckmaker MAN AG and Japanese small-car specialist Suzuki Motor Co.
The Volkswagen chairman also put to rest speculation that the group would sacrifice its underperforming Spanish brand Seat, which management has failed to move upmarket to rival Alfa.
"Seat would be to Alfa Romeo what Skoda is to Volkswagen," Piech said.
No-nonsense Czech value brand Skoda is positioned just below Volkswagen as a car to appeal to everyman's taste like VW, just cheaper.