Fiat's (Nee GM/Fiat) Alfa Romeo to US 2007

FRANKFURT, Feb 27, 2005; Reuters reported that Fiat's sporty Alfa Romeo brand cars will not go on sale in the United States before 2007 at the earliest, Alfa chief Karl-Heinz Kalbfell told industry newspaper Automobilwoche.

"We only have one shot and it has to hit the mark," Kalbfell said in an excerpt of an interview to be published on Monday.

The former head of BMW's Rolls-Royce luxury brand pinned his hopes on the success of Alfa's revamped mid-sized saloon, which will be unveiled to the public at the Geneva auto show this week.

"First we have to be able to build and sell the new Alfa 159 in sufficient numbers," he continued. "We can't go to America with insufficient resources."

Kalbfell said in an interview last Thursday with German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that he plans to eventually increase annual sales of the brand to 300,000 from the 185,000 sold in 2004.