I thought as a new member to this forum I would post a copy of a e-mail I recently sent to Lance Dixon who may have forwarded it  to Ateco for your comment!

Dear Sir (or perhaps Mr L Dixon),

Let me introduce myself:  I am a customer of Lance Dixon P/L. I became a customer after purchasing an Alfa GT almost exactly two years ago. This is my first Alfa Romeo and it is possibly the best car I have ever owned.

I purchased this vehicle despite the unanimous and unsolicited warnings from my friends and family especially my father and brother-in-law both of whom had owned Alfas previously. Poor reliability and resale value they counselled, don't tell us we didn't warn you they cautioned. But I was smitten, a gorgeous body I retorted, and the mechanicals, the gear box, the engine and handling are fabulous. I should know, I have owned Porsches, BMW's and Mercedes for 25 years, but this car was the best. Even the finance broker laughed, an Alfa he cried - are you mad? I became the best salesman Alfa ever had, I preached the attributes of this car to all of my friends. I defended the company with statements like: "Alfa has changed, their build quality has improved, the car is faultless, their image has to improve, you'll see!"

Four of my friends have purchased Alfa's since: a 147, a Brera, a Spider  and a 159 - our own little Alfa club you might say.

And then, it happened - Alfa slashed the new price on the GT by $10,000!
What does that mean? Either they can't sell them, or they were overpriced in the first place. An what of the existing owners? How are they going to feel when they lose $10,000 of resale value in a heartbeat? Well let me tell you how I feel - really angry and somewhat sad. You have let me down! You have let the car down, and you have let the customers down!

They naysayers were of course ultimately right. I regret buying the car and I would never buy another Alfa Romeo - never. Why? Well as I have already pointed out, it is a really great car! The reason is self evident, the importers can't be trusted - they are too greedy to sustain the reputation of Alfa Romeo. Just like Alfa and Audi 10+ years ago - the 'untouchables' that were consigned to the junk yards across Australia. Audi now have it right - perhaps my next car will be an Audi, or another BMW or Benz, boring as they might be! But not an Alfa! I only have to wait a few more years and watch the marque self destruct again! That's my view and I love the car. Imagine what everyone else is saying!

You might like to pass this letter on to Ateco - not that they are likely to even bother to respond. You know what they say - only 10% of disgruntled and disaffected customers ever bother to complain, the rest just take their business elsewhere.

There it is - any comments? To follow up, Lance Dixon are advertising today in The Age 16/6/2007 a 2007 GT with 1000k for $53,000 drive away - thats about 30,000 less than the old  retail cost and $24,000 less than the 'new retail price'! Why would anyone buy an Alfa Romeo??

This sort of discounting is not limited to Alfa, unfortunately. When an importer enters a new car in our market they'll research what price point it might sell at and price it accordingly. Ultimately, it's the public who will set the price at which they are prepared to part with their hard-earned for it. Witness Holden who did the same with the last Vectra. The examples go on and on....

For me, I'll continue to buy 2 - 3 year old cars and let someone else where the massive depreciation and new price movements. Unless you're doing a heap of km's each year the additional maintenance you may have is nowhere near the depreciation you'll incur over the first 3 years of ownership.

My last three purchasers were:
1993 Nissan Pulsar SSS purchased in 1994 for $21,000 against $33,000 new. Sold it in 1998 for $16,000.
1997 Hyundai Excel purchased in 2002 for $8,500 against $16,000 new. Sold it last month for $5,700.
2002 Alfa 156 V6 purchased in March for $25,000 against $58,000 new. Who knows what it'll sell for???

 I agree the pricing makes you wonder! I went along to buy a 2.0 GT for about $55k onroad. No stock so waited till they got a GT 3.2 in and gave it a trial. Brilliant engine and handling but at $75k thought it a bit rich. Then the dealer said we have a Brera 2.2  demo on the floor you can drive away for $59950, a steal!
Tried the 2.2 but it had no guts after driving the GT 3.2. Not to worry said the dealer, I think we have a Brera 3.2 we can get up here under the demo price ( although its brand new) $75990 and its yours to drive away. Would like to try one but no stock here - no sweat said the dealer, test drive the Spider, same engine so similar performance.
Did that, drove the Spider, great car and put the deposit on the Brera 3.2, sight unseen.

The rest is history, picked it up last week and my wife hasnt seen me since. Great car, great looker and thanks to the dealer for getting $20 grand off the list onroad price of $96!!

Wanderer