Currently reading: Paris motor show 2010: VW boss 'interested in Alfa'

VW Group CEO tells Autocar he is a fan of Alfa, but would only make a move if Fiat wished to sell

Volkswagen Group CEO Martin Winterkorn has told Autocar at the Paris motor show that his company would be interested in buying Alfa Romeo should Fiat wish to sell.

“Alfa is a very emotional brand,” he said. “If Fiat considers selling, we’d be interested.”

Winterkorn pointed out that Alfa once sold 300,000 units per year; now, it is around 110,000. With VW’s expertise, Winterkorn said, Alfa could return to its former glories.

See pics of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta from the Paris show and more on the twin-clutch model

“It’s a beautiful brand but there are quality issues with the engines and suspension systems for example,” he said.

“I’m quite sure we could make a beautiful brand out of Alfa again.”

However, Winterkorn made a point of stating there was no plan of an approach to Fiat for Alfa and the firm would only consider making an offer should Fiat wish to sell.

Steve Cropley

See all the latest Alfa Romeo reviews, news and video

Steve Cropley

Steve Cropley Autocar
Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business. 

Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back. 

He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.

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pensiemare 21 May 2013

alfa

Alfa is a super car man on my opinion !

RadeB 6 October 2010

Re: VW boss 'interested in Alfa'

carnut wrote:
. If VW can make proper Alfas with VW running gear and electronics
carnut wrote:
Then i can finally buy the next generation Brera.

No offense,but I think you really want Scrocco.

Richard H 6 October 2010

Re: VW boss 'interested in Alfa'

carnut wrote:
and the only reason is engineering and build quality and reliability....

There's nothing wrong with Alfa's engineering, build quality or reliability.

Under VW it would proably get worse!