From LL

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Despite teetering around 100,000 global sales last year, Alfa Romeo’s
CEO says that he intends for the heritage-laced Italian brand to sell
500,000 cars annually by 2014.

“In the past you have heard several times Alfa promising such growth
figures, but this time we have the right conditions, the right
products and the right synergies to get there,” Alfa Romeo CEO Harald
J. Wester said at the Automotive News Europe Congress held last week
in Bilbao, Spain.

Alfa Romeo has six new products set to launch before 2014, including
two SUVs, a reborn Spider a midsize sedan and wagon that will replace
the 159 and a five-door version of its stylish MiTo compact. Still,
the goal is certainly ambitious.

The Fiat-owned Italian automaker, which just celebrated its 100th
anniversary at a special event in Milan, is set to fully re-enter the
North American market by 2014 with a wide product portfolio and it
also intends to further increase sales in China. It will, however,
likely face internal competition in Europe since Fiat-owned Lancia
also has similarly aggressive expansion plans.

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