With the Alfa Romeo brand set to arrive in India later this year comes news that within the next two years consideration will be given to final assembly taking place in the country.

With the Alfa Romeo brand set to arrive in India later this year comes news that within the next two years consideration will be given to final assembly of its sporty models taking place in the country.

Alfa Romeo's market debut in India comes hot on the heels of the relaunch of its sister Fiat brand, as part of a burgeoning joint venture between the Italian firm and its Indian partner Tata Motors. The Fiat 500 and Bravo will be imported and on sale from next month, with the Linea becoming available in September, and the Grande Punto by Christmas. As well as the Fiat and Alfa Romeo divisions, the Fiat Group's two prestige sportscar brands are also both set to arrive in the country, with a timetable that will see them on sale by 2010.

Rajeev Kapoor, President and CEO, Fiat India told journalists this week that they are currently evaluating suitable Alfa Romeo models and relevant pricing structures for the Indian market. The Alfa 147, 159, 159 Sportwagon, GT Coupé, Brera and Spider are all under consideration. "By mid this year, the study will go on and we will zero in on which models to bring in India, followed by setting up of dealership network and marketing activities," the Financial Express reported Kapoor as saying. "For Alfa Romeo, we will have separate dealership of around 5 or 6 in major cities."

Alfa Romeo will commence sales later this year in India by importing cars from Italy as completely built units (CBU). But, said Kapoor, "once the volumes pick up in 2009-10, we may look into completely knock down units (CKD)." This projection playing out would see Alfa Romeo assembling cars in a second Asian country as it already has plans well underway to commence production in China, initially with the Alfa 159 using Chery-sourced petrol engines. With Fiat now looking to source group-wide components from its Fiat-Tata joint venture in India, and Alfa Romeo models assembled in the country could be expected to incorporate local content.

The famous 98-year-old Milanese carmaker has a long tradition of assembling its cars abroad, often in CKD form to circumvent local import tax stipulations. Historically Alfa Romeo has seen its cars built in an array of countries across the globe including Brazil, Argentina, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Thailand, and Malaya (now Malaysia). Most recently in the Asia region it briefly assembled Alfa 156 models at a GM factory in Thailand earlier this decade.