We'll beat Germans on quality, says Alfa

16 December 2005

Alfa Romeo is promising to beat the German prestige brands for quality and customer service - and will use the JD Power Customer Satisfaction Index to gauge its progress.

In the 2005 JD Power survey, Alfa Romeo finished in last place of the 32 makes assessed. BMW finished sixth, Audi ninth and Mercedes-Benz in 21st place.

The head of Alfa Romeo and Maserati's strategic planning, Karl-Heinz Kalbfell, revealed that Alfa wants to leapfrog its key German rivals. 'We have to be better than our rivals to demonstrate we are serious in what we say,' he said. However, Kalbfell would not reveal a timescale for how quickly this turnaround will take place.

Kalbfell told whatcar.com: 'If you look at the 159 and Brera (Alfa's two newest models), it's clear that we've taken a step forward. We will use surveys such as JD Power to judge what more needs to be done.'

The improvement won't come from Alfa Romeo alone. Kalbfell is also pushing suppliers and Alfa dealers to up their game.

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