2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Rwd on 2040-cars

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Fiat set to invest $12B on new models, stop Euro losses in 3 years

Naturally, you'd expect a massive automaker like Fiat to have an in-depth plan to exit the current European-market doldrums, and you'd expect that plan to include plenty of new vehicles to attract those precious buyers that still remain despite the financial downturn. And you'd be right, though Fiat does seem to have a few unexpected twists up its corporate sleeve.
Perhaps the biggest shocker is a report that Fiat will completely drop the Punto, a car with mass-market appeal aimed at small-car buyers cross-shopping the popular Volkswagen Polo. Its replacement will be a five-door Fiat 500 aimed at upmarket buyers (sounds awfully similar to the 500L) that will be built in Poland. Lower-end customers will reportedly be served by variants of the Fiat Panda.
Borrowing a page from the BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen playbook, reports Automotive News, Fiat is said to have plans to reignite production at its Italian factories by retooling them to build high-end vehicles from Maserati and Alfa Romeo. These will be marketed as premium products, built by skilled Italian workers (who are paid wages that are 75-percent higher than those building Fiats in Poland), and will be sold around the world.

2020 Virtual Geneva Motor Show Editors' Picks

There may not have been an actual Geneva Motor Show this year, but there were still loads of car reveals that happened the week that the show would have happened. So we still wanted to highlight what our favorites of the would-be show. Our list of cars seemed to match the theme of the reveals, too, highlighting over-the-top supercars and forward thinking electric vehicles. Scroll down to see our favorites. Fifth Place: Aston Martin V12 Speedster - 21 points Managing Editor, Greg Rasa: Astons are works of art, and this one's ready for the Louvre. The design nods to Aston history are nifty. It looks like a jet fighter, except those have canopies. Not sure what 186 mph would be like in this, but don't try it in summer when there are bugs. Contributing Editor, Joe Lorio: Admittedly, this one is a little silly. A $950,000 sports car with no roof? A 700-hp two-seater with no windshield? But the offerings at the Geneva auto show have always tilted toward absurdity, and Aston’s V12 Speedster is endearingly outrageous as a fighter plane for the street. Third Place (Tie): Volkswagen ID.4 - 26 points Senior Producer, Chris McGraw: I don't have much to say about this other than I am a huge fan of more EVs coming to the market, which is why two-thirds of my picks are electric, including the ID.4. Producer, Alex Malberg: Any new fully-electric crossover is a vote for me. The fact it doesn't look terrible and VW will be including AWD later are bonuses.  Third Place (Tie): Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio GTA - 26 points Road Test Editor, Zac Palmer: Hard to argue with the logic of this one. The Giulia Quadrifoglio is already the best driver in this class of hot sedans, so why not extend the lead with a special model. That wing is Type R levels of high, and I completely approve. Associate Editor, Byron Hurd: Love this car. Love it, love it, love it. It's beautiful, aggressive and fast. I'd take it over an M3 or C63 any day. As cool as the GTAm is, though, I'd rather stick to the four-seat GTA. Something about a four-door car with two seats just doesn't really work for me. I haven't alienated ALL of my friends quite yet. Second Place: Hyundai Prophecy - 35 points Senior Editor, Green, John Snyder: I get whiffs of the Genesis Coupe from this sleek concept. I like the focus on form, with interesting details to discover if you look for them. West Coast Editor, James Riswick: Does it look like a Porsche? Sure, but Porsches look neat.

It only took 2.5 years to create the Alfa Romeo Giulia

Automakers are capable of some remarkable things. Take Alfa Romeo, for example. A new vehicle generally takes four to five years to go from conception to production, but with the stunning new Giulia, the iconic Italian brand allegedly did it in less than three years. That's according Chief Engineer Philippe Krief, who spoke to Car about the, um, car. "You ask every carmaker: doing a car in two years, everyone will tell you it's not possible," Krief told Car. "The industry standard says four, the longest say five years, everywhere in the world. We had to do it in two and a half years. [Sergio] Marchionne said – and he's right – the only way to achieve that is to be different." Remarkably, this was done with just 11 people, handpicked by Krief. This so-called Skunkworks approach allowed for fast decision making and brainstorming, and consequently, stuff like the torque-vectoring system and active aerodynamics on the Quadrifoglio. While we love talking about Alfa's notorious Cloverleaf trim, Krief also let some details slip on additional members of the Giulia family, beyond the 510-horsepower, 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 model. We can expect to see those in a few months time, at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show. And yes, that could include a four-cylinder model and a diesel V6. "Probably," Krief said, when asked about a four-cylinder model. "And we are package-protected for V6 diesel, we can install it in the car and after we can decide whether to put it in or not." So there you are. While the big news remains the Quadrifoglio, Alfa is set to expand the Giulia's engine range, and it'll do so very soon. Stay tuned. Related Video: