1973 Alfa Romeo Spider Convertible Red Restored Fun! on 2040-cars

Auto blog

The mood at this year’s Paris Motor Show: Quiet

The Paris Motor Show, held every other year in the early fall, typically kicks off the annual cavalcade of automotive conclaves, one that traverses the globe between autumn and spring, introducing projective, conceptual and production-ready vehicle models to the international automotive press, automotive aficionados and a public hungry for news of our increasingly futuristic mobility enterprise. But this year, at the press preview days for the show, the grounds of the Porte de Versailles convention center felt a bit more sparsely populated than usual. This was not simply a subjective sensation, or one influenced by the center's atypically dispersed assemblage of seven discrete buildings, which tends to spread out the cars and the crowds. There were not only fewer new vehicles being premiered in Paris this year, there were fewer manufacturers there to display them. Major mainstream European OEM stalwarts such as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nissan and Volkswagen chose to sit out Paris this year, as did boutique manufacturers like Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. This is not simply based in some antipathy on the part of the German, British and Italian manufacturers toward the French market — though for a variety of historical and societal reasons that market may be more dominated by vehicles produced domestically than others. Rather, it is part of a larger trend in the industry. Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that it would not be participating in the flagship North American International Auto Show in 2019 — and that it might not return. Other brands including Jaguar/Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Mazda and nearly every exotic carmaker have also departed the Detroit show. Some of these brands will still appear in the city in which the show is taking place, and host an event offsite, to capitalize on the presence of a large number of reporters in attendance. And even brands that do have a presence at the show have shifted their vehicle introductions to the days before the official press opening in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. In many ways, this makes sense. With an expanding number of automakers, with diversification and niche-ification of models and with wholesale shifts that necessitate the introduction of EV or autonomous sub-brands, there is a growing sense that, with everyone shouting at the same time, no one can be heard.

Alfa Romeo Giulia SWB Zagato briefly teased, could be a coupe

Earlier this month, Alfa Romeo and Zagato teased the upcoming Alfa Romeo Giulia SWB Zagato with a single image of an unbroken LED taillight outlining what looked like a Kamm-back rear end. Zagato recently published a few more teasers to its Instagram page, but someone might have pressed the Send button too soon — the video and images are gone from the source. No matter, because this is the internet. The new shots hint at something that could justify Alfa Romeo boss Jean-Philippe Imparato's assessment that the vehicle will be "very exciting, very selective, and very expensive." The image with the carbon-backed driver's seat contains a new rear window shutline and a crossbar. The redrawn glasshouse leads us to believe this will be a coupe, making the most of that Short Wheelbase designation. Some have called the crossbar a roll cage, but it looks to us like the kind of brace used in some cars that omit their rear seats, like the original Bentley Continental GT Supersports. The engine shot doesn't give anything away except the Quadrifoglio badge. The twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6 could come with the same 505 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque as the Giulia Quadrifoglio, it could be uprated to the 532 hp and 442 lb-ft of the special edition Giulia GTAm, or, as buyers would hope, it could go beyond that. We'd expect the output to be sent through Alfa's eight-speed automatic transmission to the rear wheels through a limited-slip differential.  Zagato standards like new mesh vents and a vented hood make their appearances elsewhere. The grille gets printed with a stylized version of the red cross and crowned viper in Alfa Romeo's logo between the tri-section headlights that should debut on the facelifted Giulia. In back, a closer shot of the taillights gives away segments between LEDs, so the rear end won't be a continuous clamshell piece like the vintage Giulia TZ and Giulia TZ2. Detail bits like a carbon fiber front splitter and another take on the five-leaf-clover wheels from the Giulia GTA will make for dark and shiny jewelry.  The Giulia TZ debuted in 1963, the Giulia SWB Zagato will be the 50th birthday present to the original. Market launch is rumored to come in March next year, an official debut should come not long before that.  

Alfa Romeo boss targeting Lexus reliability, cheaper future models

J.D. Power's U.S. Initial Quality Study measures an aggregate number of problems suffered by light-duty vehicles during the first 90 days of ownership. In the 2021 survey, the industry average was 162 per 100 vehicles over that first 90 days. Ram topped the charts with the best result, posting 128 problems per 100 vehicles in 90 days. Lexus ranked third, at 144. Out of the top 33 brands measured verifiably according to the methodology — Tesla came with an asterisk — Alfa Romeo finished 29th. In Consumer Reports' 2020 Brand Report Card, Lexus placed fifth out of 32 brands, Alfa Romeo 28th. The Italian carmaker's CEO, Jean-Philippe Imparato, wants to get his brand closer to that Japanese brand. During the first European test drive of the new Tonale crossover, he told Automotive News, "My quality benchmark is Lexus." There's a long way to go, but Imperato believes he knows the route. Doing the same quick work in Italy that Carlos Tavares did with Opel, Imparato — who led Peugeot to being the second-best-selling marque in Europe — has turned Alfa Romeo to profit before the release of the Tonale. He's only been on the job 16 months.  There are customer-facing approaches to improving confidence in the brand. The Tonale sits on the oldest platform in the Stellantis parts bin, the CUSW architecture that rolled out with the Giulietta in 2010, so it stands a better chance of having all of its bugs flushed out by now. The blockchain-enabled telematics recorder keeps what is intended to be a tamper-proof record of the vehicle's use and maintenance, preventing skullduggery about accidents and mileage and sketchy service. Alfa has enough faith in it to offer what's said to be a five-year, 75,000-mile unconditional warranty on the Tonale in Europe. We won't know how the nitty gritty bits hold up until Tonales hit the road, but the goals are admirable.        The reliability push is just one more step in Imparato's re-establishing the market segments, perception, and touchpoints of the Alfa Romeo brand. He told Wheels at the same event, "before we reach for the stars, we must get the basics in order," beginning with "the quality issues," then improving resale values, and then launching more affordable models. The Giulia sedan and Stelvio crossover have been dominated by the Germans they're meant to challenge, and "they are too pricey for Alfisti who would like to trade up from a Giulietta, let alone the MiTo" European subcompact.