Italian and French cars in the U.S.

Factual Questions
1

I was at Ikea the other day and saw a poster that featured a yellow Fiat 500. In the 1980s anf 1990s I saw lots of Alfa Romeo Spiders in L.A., and a couple Bimotas. But it seems Alfa Romeo and Fiat stopped exporting cars to the U.S. about ten years ago. Same with Peugeot. Used to see a lot of them; now, never.

Why did the Italians and French stop selling to the U.S.? Too much competition from the Japanese? Poor marketing?

I’ve heard there’s a new Peugeot Diesel-electric hybrid that gets like 80 mpg. Is it time for a return?

2

They could have lived with small market share, but with all the US regulations on safety and pollution, having cars just for US distribiution made it difficult to do business (unprofitable).

3

I think the Alfas and the Fiats got a bad reputation in the past because of the poor quality of steel used, which tended to turn them into rustbuckets.

Fiat is planning a return to the US I hear, starting with Maserati, and Alfas too. Citroen is also said to be considering returning, starting with Quebec.