The saddest sight I personally witnessed at Pebble Beach was not a crunched Lamborghini being pulled onto a flatbed. It was the auction for the “Quadrifoglio Collection” of vintage Alfa Romeos. I’d inspected most of these historic cars before they rolled across the stage and, while I’m no expert, they seemed as fine an assemblage of the Italian brand’s best racers and road cars as you’d find anywhere. My assumption was that they’d fetch a good price. This assumption was wrong.
In fact, I was surprised to see that Alfa Romeo even held an event at Pebble Beach. There are so many sad Stellantis brands that it’s easy to get fixated on Maserati or Fiat and forget that the company has a third failing Italian marque. I’m not sure what future Alfa has, but the view from Monterey ain’t great.
That’s ignoring that the brand’s cars are built outside of the United States and thus susceptible to higher tariffs. The EU and the United States have come to an agreement, but the agreement is still going to be extremely negative towards European cars. Audi, in particular, is raising prices by thousands of dollars on everything as it tries to stay afloat.
Could an Alfa EV help? Probably not, especially because America’s garages are so overstuffed with junk that there’s no room for them.
A Brand Has To Stand For Something
Auction houses seem to love a featured collection. When you’re in the room at an event like the RM Sotheby’s Monterey event last week, there can be a sense of FOMO as a series of cars from one brand or one collection start to go for a high price. Your Autopian crew was there on Friday to see the first car that gaveled at RM, which is one of those tiny Ferrari toy car replica things. It sold for about what I paid for my Subaru Forester.
The next auction was the “La Bella Macchina’ sculpture, a giant copper bust of a man driving an unnamed car. If you were curious, “La Bella Macchina” is Italian for “No one said that this is clearly a 1959 pontoon-fendered Ferrari 250 TestaRossa with Enzo Ferrari behind the wheel. No one even said the word Ferrari. Please stop saying the word Ferrari, we don’t want to get sued.” That sculpture went for $66,000, or about what I’ve paid for every car I’ve ever owned combined.
Although it was early, the room felt hot. There was an energy, and many seemed to be expecting something great to happen. Eventually, the payoff would come in the form of a Volkswagen Beetle that sold for over $300,000. My reading of the overall RM auction was that most cars did pretty well, and a few did extremely well. Any fear that the market was soft seems to have been allayed.
The one big exception was the Alfas. There were 11 lots in total, all sold with no reserve, and they ended up hundreds of thousands of dollars short of the pre-auction estimates. The first lot was a 1970 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAm-spec car ready to return to vintage racing. Even if you grant that some of these estimates can run a little high, it sold for $53,760, compared to an expected range of $80-120k. The next lot went for $550,000, compared to the $700-$900k estimate. Lot 116, another 1750 GTAm, didn’t even hit half of the low end of the predicted $200-$250k estimate. Perhaps sensing what was going on, the lowest-priced lot was pulled from the auction.
At one point, the auctioneers yanked the legendary Peter Brock on stage to talk about the provenance of the 1968 Alfa Romeo T33/2 ‘Daytona’ historic race car. An absolutely beautiful Autodelta creation I’d drooled over earlier that day, it didn’t take much from Brock to convince me of the importance of this car. Mario Andretti drove it at Daytona! What else do you need to know?
A lot, apparently. The T33/2 was predicted to sell for $1.7-$2.0 million. Even with the Brock bump, it only went for $1.16 million. Again, I’m not an expert, and there may be something particularly off about these specific Alfas, but I neither saw nor heard anything to indicate that. So far as I can tell, of the 11 cars, only two met their estimates and only one exceeded them.
That’s not good for a brand. That same night, someone paid more for a fake Porsche single-seat toy race car than they did for a fully-functioning racing Alfa Romeo. Anything Porsche, Ferrari, and even Jaguar seemed to snag a good price. Across town, Alfa Romeo had an event for the North American debut of the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. That little Italian supercar looks fantastic, and I’m genuinely interested in it. Is anyone else? I had no idea this event happened. I saw the car nowhere, and I didn’t hear a single person talk about it.
You can have a brand with no history and be successful. There are no vintage Teslas on display at these auctions, or being put on golf course greens, but plenty of them on the street. A brand like Alfa Romeo, which offers no products that are truly exemplary, needs its history. It needs people to care. The vibes seem to be, sadly, that many people do not. The RM Auction is just one data point, but in a place where people gather to spend a week entirely focused on cars, the people who are supposed to care seemed mostly disinterested.
Though there are plans for new products, key products are delayed, and the current lineup is pretty sad. There are two uninteresting crossovers and one super sedan that’s maybe great, but now a little too long in the tooth (and selling at a steep discount). It’s not the brand’s fault, but post-Sergio Stellantis leadership clearly hasn’t given Alfa much attention. What’s the company offering in the meantime? Custom spec’d cars and a factory-backed restoration business. That’s not likely to be enough.
Want further proof that people in America are not moved by the brand? In Europe, Alfa Romeo is up by more than 33%. Over here? Through the first six months of 2025, the brand hasn’t been able to sell even 3,200 cars, with every single model down by more than 25%. It’s been more than a decade, but Alfa still hasn’t gained any real traction here.
My best interaction with an Alfa all week? I was walking back to the car after the Concours and spotted a gentleman with a clean Alfa 164LS. One of my all-time favorite cars. He spotted me checking out his ride, and he engaged that glorious-sounding Busso V6 to drive over and talk to me. He handed me a card with his number and a picture of the car. It’s for sale. Any reasonable offer accepted. How long before someone is saying that on behalf of the entire brand?
The EU Is Trying To Introduce Legislation To Retroactively Diminish Tariffs
Everything about this tariff situation feels extremely off-the-cuff, and in place of carefully crafted trade deals, we’ve got a bunch of memos. The latest memo involves the EU, and negotiators for Europe seem to have brought the import rate for cars down to 15% from 27.5%, which is still terrible for Europe, but less terrible.
According to Reuters, that rate can also be applied retroactively if it can get legislation to reduce tariffs on American industrial and agricultural goods introduced quickly:
EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said it was the European Commission’s “firm intention” to make proposals by the end of this month, meaning the U.S. car tariff reduction would apply from August 1.
A senior Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said European carmakers could see relief from the current U.S. tariffs within “hopefully weeks.”
“As soon as they’re able to introduce that legislation – and I don’t mean pass it and fully implement it, but really introduce it – then we will be in a position to provide that relief. And I will say that both sides are very interested in moving quickly,” they said.
If you’re an American carmaker with products being produced in Mexico and Canada, you’re probably wondering why all of your competitors are getting a better deal than you are.
Audi’s Prices Are Rising By Up To $4,700 Because Of Tariffs: Report
There was a moment where Audi seemed like the brand to be in the United States, but that moment has passed. Sales are down, and now, to keep from losing all its profits, Audi is going to have to raise prices, per Automotive News, who reports:
The electric Q4 E-tron compact crossover will see the smallest price increase, $800 or 1.6 percent, to $51,895, while pricing will rise by $4,700, or 3.7 percent, to $131,295 for the low-volume S8 large sedan, Audi said Aug. 21.
The starting price on Audi’s entry model, the A3 compact sedan, is rising $1,900, or 4.8 percent, to $41,395.
The Q7 large crossover now starts at $63,295, up $1,500, while the closely related Q8 crossover now starts at $76,895, up $1,200. All prices include shipping.
Lower-volume performance models received some of the highest increases. The starting prices of both the RS 6 Avant wagon and RS 7 sedan rose $4,100.
If you work in the cattle industry, the expected increases in costs might be offset by increased wages. Or maybe you own a company that’s a supplier to the cattle industry. Then times are good. For everyone else, my sense is that you’re going to see everything get more expensive and not have the wages to match. Price increases for cars are coming, probably for the 2026 model year cars. Just you wait.
De-Cluttering Garages Could Be The Key To EV Adoption
Autopian contributor and EV expert Sam Abuelsamid’s other gig is doing research for a company called Telemetry, and he’s got a report out showing a bunch of reasons why people aren’t buying electric cars, and stuffed garages seem to be a big reason:
“90% of all houses can add a 240-volt outlet near where cars could be parked,” notes Telemetry Vice President of Market Research Sam Abuelsamid. “Parking behavior, namely whether homeowners use a private garage for parking or storage, will likely become a key factor in EV adoption. Today, garage-use intent is potentially a greater factor for in-house charging ability than the house’s capacity to add 240-volt outlets.”
Citing research from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, an estimated 42% of homeowners park near existing electrical access that can be modified to work with a Level 2 charger. However, this number rises to 68% if homeowners change their parking behavior, most likely by clearing a space in their garage.
Therefore, for many potential EV drivers, the challenge of installing home EV chargers isn’t just technical or cost-related, but behavioral: too many Americans use their garages for storage.
I don’t have a garage, but my garage-use intent is to fill it with old Volvos.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Florence + The Machine is an all-time great band name, so I have to feature their new track “Everybody Scream” to close out the week. This is immediately going on my Halloween playlist for this year.
The Big Question
You can save one Italian Stellantis brand in North America, which one is it? Fiat, Alfa, or Maserati?
Top Photo: Alfa Romeo
> You can save one Italian Stellantis brand in North America, which one is it?
Honestly? Autobianchi. The name has an Italian flair, and it doesn’t have the baggage that those other brands have. Tweak a few Peugeots so they look palatable to the US buyer while retaining some ineffable euro-ness. Bring a compelling range all at once (subcompact, compact, sporty coupe, sedan, medium SUV, large SUV, flagship sedan), all with solid engines and driving dynamics.
Do something… Interesting. And make sure the price is right and the cars don’t suck. If stellantis is capable of that.
Mike, thanks for your take on Alfa. Can someone there please do a piece on what the hell is going on at Lancia? Not so long ago they made a big deal about debuting a scultural representation of their new design language. Since then its been crickets. I love that Alfa is still making some cool unique cars but FFS Lancia should be making some as well. It’s as if Stall-antis has put it out to pasture in the desert to die. Just look at the response to older Lancias, especially the coach built/modded ones, at Car Week- including pics of them online. There is still a lot of good will and nostalgia to work with. It wasn’t a coincidence that Clarkson drove a Lancia in one of the very last episodes of GT. WTF are they doing with their supposed new design language?!
Italian brands to save for the US? Maybe Fiat. Others really offer nothing, Especially in brand recognition. Buy a Masser, its worth pennies in 5 years. And what does it offer in performance, luxury, or panache? Zip
Stellantis is a poster child of a global company that does not know how to think locally. Hard to see a real future there.
PS…. In most of the US, alfa is what you feed to horses and cows…
De-Cluttering Garages Could Be The Key To EV Adoption
In addition to people using their garages for storage, there’s the issue of increased ownership of larger vehicles combined with the shrinking 2-car garage sizes of newer homes to where a pair of even average sized vehicles can barely fit inside an even uncluttered garage.
This problem will only get worse as EV adoption approaches the stage where multi-EV households compete for charging time and space.
So Alfa Romeo is starved of new product? So is Chrysler, and Dodge, and RAM – is there ANY Stellantis brand with a reasonable R&D pipeline?
They seem to be underinvesting and starving pretty much all of them to death
I think the big challenge now is that some people are looking at buying a second EV. The garage circuit most likely doesn’t have enough current to charge 2 EVs at the same time.
It makes perfect sense. Charge one while you drive the other. Charging both at once seems like an edge case.
There’s at least one product out there for this situation: I forget the name but it’s a splitter that sends power to only one car at a time. I think there’s even one that you can run a clothes dryer off of. For daily commuting, 5 hrs of charging per night should be plenty.
My garage is a woodshop and staging area for materials and projects under way. Cars are built for the outdoors and I have no problem letting mine sleep wild. The big challenge I have is a 60′ driveway that is only 82″ wide (wall to wall) and no turnaround, so parking is a challenge especially where I would place an outdoor charger. I need a small narrow EV!
Like a Tango?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commuter_Cars_Tango
I think people may have converted garages to storage because a lot of people have owned vehicles that can’t make it through the door.
If the garage is under hour home, it’s not easy to increase vertical clearance for a taller vehicle.
I have to think that with the rising costs of housing, a lot of families have converted attached garages into living space instead of up-sizing to a larger home.
Americans also gather too much shyte and keep it forever. Around here any new large building is a self-storage warehouse. People spend hundreds per month to store an old couch that was well-worn when they put it in there.
“People spend hundreds per month to store an old couch that was well-worn when they put it in there.”
But they will be glad when someday they have to move into the locker and need something to sleep on. /s
I have a question why do all the articles on tariffs State the actual percentage the US is charging but give no mention to the percentage the other countries are charged the US? I mean India is charging 115%, be honest be open
Well, this is a car blog and the subject addressed in this post is what Americans pay for cars (in this case Audis), so not sure why we’d be talking about tariff rates in India, a country we don’t trade cars with in either direction…?
That said, the 115% Indian rate that I see getting trotted out by people with the opposite axe to grind (not saying that’s you, spyderfan!) is the “bound rate” from the WTO, which means it is the maximum rate that India is allowed to charge on most goods under WTO rules. As I understand it, the average *actual* rate is less than half that for most goods (though still high compared to most countries).
The Indian rate on autos specifically is something like 70%, which is a lot less than 115% but still stupidly high, and effectively a complete block on automotive imports from the U.S. Unlike the EU, Mexico and Canada, where we are now charging those countries higher rates than they charge us, India seems like a country where reciprocal tariffs actually make some sense.
Alfa has for the most part always had good driving and designed cars. The Giulia is probably the best handling in its class and has always been superior to its Maserati siblings in terms of dynamics. Alfa also has a lot of historical provenance in the auto world and is one of the oldest brands out there.
Maserati though, has cheapened its image over the past decade or so, with lackluster and overpriced cars, and now is the brand of choice for people wanting to “look” rich. You see them on the streets all beat up or driven by wanna-bes. Even brand new cars are marked down heavily and continues to cheapen the brand. Some of the cars actually have substance, the grecale and GT are good in trofeo trim, but are just not good enough to compete with the germans at the price points they want. They should reduce their MSRPs to undercut the germans while providing a differentiated product. Not to mention maserati servicing and ownership experience is not good enough. Buying a maserati then paying $500+ for an oil change is a punishment, it makes you feel like you’re getting fleeced and a sucker for buying one.
In my opinion Maserati just doesnt have the volume and cache anymore with products that just havent hit their marks. Its time to hang up the cleats and sell it or make it a super-luxury trim level like a Mercedes-Maybach.
The Agnelli family which owns Stellantis also owns Ferrari. So their is a competitive conflict with Maserati, where it will ALWAYS be second class to Ferrari and can never challenge it with any product. Thats why the MC20 only has 620 hp and a V6. So just sell it to someone who can let it run free.
You can save one Italian Stellantis brand in North America, which one is it? Fiat, Alfa, or Maserati?
Lancia. Just do a reset for the NA market for Italian non-luxury cars.
There are actually FOUR failing Italian brands – Lancia is still around (though not in North America) trying to sell one model.
Dump Lancia and Chrysler and keep Alfa, Fiat and Maserati.
I’d dump Lancia and Fiat, keep Chrysler (in some markets like North America), Alfa (in some markets like the EU) and Maserati
Fiat sold 660k units in 24 against 107k units for Chrysler and they sell many
more models worldwide than Chryslers one of one. Which is a more viable brand?
Of course IMO Stellantis cannot die fast enough. The entire enterprise like the UK auto industry Leland for example is well past its glory days and should be put down.
Chrysler since they were able to still sell that much in spite of years of being starved of product and now being down to ONE fucking aged model.
And I’ll bet that Chrysler still makes some money for Stellantis while Fiat loses money… at least in North America.
Get Chrysler some competitive new product and things can turn around fast.
Same deal with Dodge… starting with putting the trucks back under Dodge.
“Fiat, Alfa, or Maserati?”
If I had to pick one, it would be Maserati. It’s the only one of the three that doesn’t have overlap with other Stellantis brands.
It can’t be done with the Stellantis curse
“forget that the company has a third failing Italian marque”
That’s brutal, just brutal.
“I don’t have a garage, but my garage-use intent is to fill it with old Volvos.”
I’ve got a two car garage (that I added to the house after I moved in, and had to lengthen it half a foot mid-construction in order to fit the ’98 Mercedes CLK I’d put a deposit on once it’s actual length of the CLK was announced) and a two car carport.
That was almost 30 years ago. Now, the garage holds a ’95 Miata and a LOT of old Unix workstations and obsolete PCs that are worth nothing (well, less than they cost to ship anywhere) and the carport holds TWO old Volvos, along with a LOT of other stuff (washer/dryer, spare washer, spare dishwasher, plenty of plywood and firewood, etc… no I don’t have a hoarding problem, why do you ask?).
Thinking about it now, I’d like to get rid of all the old computers and fit another car in the garage, but w/my bad back, it’ll all probably stay where it is until I’m dead and it’s someone else’s problem.
I know it’s not the way of things: new cars are pretty much never cheaper/simpler than the model they replace, but… I actually might consider a new Tonale if Alfa (for some inexplicable reason) decided to sell a simplified/stripped-down version w/o the hybrid stuff, only RWD, lose most of the electronic infotainment crap, etc… I like the size, shape, and dynamics of the Tonale (it’s like a slender, more athletic Mazda CX-5) but everything I’ve ever read about it gives me pause, since I’m not a masochist.
Those cloverleaf wheels common to many current/recent Alfas are consistently gorgeous regardless. 🙂
Our garage is in progress of being transformed into half home gym, half miata parking. It is currently Half clutter/ half Miata with clutter boxing in said miata. The biggest regret with our house was not ponying up the extra $45k for a basement. At the time we went under contract to build we were making $50k/year less combined than when we closed on it. If we had a basement the garage would be for my wife’s Pilot and my beater NA miata. It drives her nuts our nicest and most expensive vehicle (hers) is driveway parked while the beater is in the garage.
How did you end up with a half miata?
When I finished the interior of my garage I specifically added a 240 outlet for a future EV, such a cheap “while you’re in there” I should have added a second since it’s a two-car garage but live and learn.
If you can’t park n-vehicles in your n-car garage I think you are doing it wrong. Unfortunately, I am an n+1 kind of guy when it comes to vehicles so my daily is in the driveway.
As a heritage brand, I think I prefer Fiat, as current brand I think Alfas look great for the money. The only Maserati I have ever wanted was a TC and that was only for a laugh, I think I would have regretted my decision quickly.
I’m sure this is going to sound absurd, but I don’t want to park my daily driver in the garage, because it’s inconvenient. I have to walk farther to get to it, open the door (even if with a button), back the car out, and then close the door again. It’s also not exactly a quiet endeavor, and I go to work at like 5am, so I’m not a fan of that either.
That’s why I park my “nice” cars in the garage, since I don’t mind doing that whole process once or twice on a weekend.
Therefore, even if I was daily driving an EV, it’s staying parked in the driveway, and the cord’s just going to have to reach.
And I have the exact opposite situation. Garage is attached, so it’s less work to get out that door (not having to take the time to lock it behind me), and it’s a shorter walk from where we normally are on the first level of the house. Belt drive opener with properly lubed hinges mean my garage is one of the more quiet ones in the neighborhood.
That said, if I had a fun car that wasn’t my daily, I’d be keeping my fun one in the garage for sure!
Mine is chain drive and loud as hell. I lubed the hinges and the chain… what else can I do? I hate the racket it makes ☹️
I keep my garage clear for vehicles. This was a conscious choice to keep my second most expensive purchases protected from the weather. During inclement weather a covered car is excellent!
Most financially-sound suggestion would be Maserati. Make the similar enough to use as many of the same parts as possible, but give different experiences, and Maserati likely could bring in far more profit than Alfa could. Alfa’s products would’ve done better at just being sporty Dodge’s here (though there wouldn’t be an Quadrifoglio’s), and anything Fiat could’ve just been a Chrysler ffs.
My personal suggestion is still Maserati. Alfa just doesn’t do enough to distance itself like the cheaper Porsche they try to portrayal “while going after Mercedes, Audi, and BMW”, as if they could. See the last sentence from my previous paragraph for Fiat.