There are so many brands of automakers in Europe that never see the light of day on our side of the Earth here in North America. It’s a little disappointing to miss out on the Peugeot and Seat action, and now a couple of the bigger names in the business that we’ve been missing out on — Fiat and Alfa Romeo — are trying to come State-side, but aren’t quite there yet.

On Fiat’s end of things, the company’s CEO, Sergio Marchionne, was approached by Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development about bringing the automobiles to North America, and have them built in the Canadian province. Marchionne wasn’t opposed to the idea, but he wants a long-term rollout. Moreover, North American versions of Fiat are “not their first priority.”

From the Alfa Romeo camp, we had our fingers crossed that the popular cars would return to the United States either by the end of next year or early the following year; however, it seems that the plans have pushed the proposed launch back until at least 2010. To compete with 3-series Bimmers, they hope to bring the Brera, Brera Spider and 159 wagon and sedan.