Dow Jones Newswires (Detroit) - Fiat SpA's (F.MI) chief executive Monday reiterated the likelihood that the Italian auto maker will build Alfa Romeo cars in the U.S. as it prepares the return of its sports car brand to the country after a long hiatus.
"It would make sense to build more Fiats here and it's more likely it will be an Alfa," Sergio Marchionne told reporters at a roundtable held at the North American International Auto Show. "Alfa's got greater potential in the U.S," he added.
Marchionne didn't identify the model nor the plant where it could be built.
Fiat is using its partnership with Chrysler Group LLC to bring Alfa Romeo back to the U.S.
After a number of delays, its latest goal is to introduce the first model--a two-seater called the 4C GTA--in 2013 and a sedan called the Giulia a year later.
Marchionne has said Alfa Romeo and Jeep where the only two brands of Fiat and Chrysler with global potential because they are the most easily identified by consumers nearly everywhere.
The first model of the Fiat group that Marchionne brought to the U.S. was the 500, a subcompact whose sales missed the 50,000 unit target for 2011.
It is built at a Chrysler plant in Mexico.
