Alfa Romeo pulled out of the American market in 1995, done in by slumping sales and grumpy customers.

Now the car brand that gained fame as Dustin Hoffman’s ride in “The Graduate” is planning an encore, with parent company Fiat, Italy’s largest car maker, saying it will resume selling Alfa Romeos in America.

Details are sketchy enough that some analysts question whether it will really happen. If it does, taking on entrenched rivals such as BMW and Audi will be daunting. “There are already too many brands for the market to absorb,” editorial director of automotive site Edmunds.com, Kevin Smith, said. “Do we really need another marque?”

Fiat, based in the northern Italian city of Turin, is taking a toe-in-the-water approach.

The limited edition Alfa 8C Competizione — a high-performance coupe expected to cost more than $200,000 — will go on sale in America this year, the company has said. A limited edition 8C convertible will come in 2009. Those forays would be followed by more affordably priced models, likely candidates being the 159 sporty sedan, the Brera coupe, and the Spider two-seater.

The Spider is the model most likely to create a buzz with buyers on less-than-super-car budgets. It hearkens back to Alfa’s glory days in the 1960s, when the sleek little drop tops were the very essence of jet-set cool.

Some analysts are optimistic about Alfa Romeo’s return to America, noting that its recent offerings have been well-received in Europe.

“The new crop of stylish, performance-oriented vehicles would likely stack up very well as a more stylish alternative to BMW, or act as an excellent step up from such low-priced sporty brands as Mazda,” an analyst of Global Insight, Aaron Bragman, wrote late last year.

The red Duetto that Hoffman drove in “The Graduate” may be the best known Alfa Romeo, but the brand has roots in the European auto industry reaching back to the early 1900s.

Alfa was especially noted for its success on the race track. Enzo Ferrari (yes, that Ferrari) was an early driver, and a 158 Alfetta won the first Formula One World Championship in 1950.

The brand become something of a cultural icon in its homeland, appreciated by fans — known as Alfisti — for its fashion-forward styling and technological innovation.