1983 Alpha Romeo Spider Veloce on 2040-cars

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Reid Bigland appointed CEO of Alfa Romeo, Maserati

There's been a big shakeup in Fiat Chrysler's leadership team, as head of US sales and FCA Canada CEO Reid Bigland will replace Harald Wester as the chief exec for Alfa Romeo and Maserati. Wester will retain his position as chief technical officer of FCA. Both men will hang onto their positions on FCA's Group Executive Council. The move is an interesting one considering the widely publicized issues at both Alfa and Maserati. Alfa Romeo's problems are almost too many to list. The brand has promised a full-scale return to the US market for more than a decade, but faced repeated delays. Its latest volume model, the Giulia, is being savaged by reviewers over quality issues, and the company has frequently pushed its upcoming CUV back. If that were the only problem, it'd be annoying, but according to Automotive News, Alfa's relaunch is also considerably over budget. Maserati is an entirely different can of worms. Alongside Alfa, it's been stung by a slow Chinese market. Profits are down, according to Automotive News, and it's been widely rumored that the company will delay its next sports car, the Alfieri, until 2018 – it was previously promised for this year. Meanwhile, two of its three other models, the Quattroporte and GranTurismo, are dangerously long in the tooth, and the Levante is still months away from US sales. Can Bigland sort these issues out? Maybe. As Sergio Marchionne said in his official statement, "[Bigland] has an extraordinary record of growing sales and market share in the US and Canada over the last 7 years at FCA, including leading the growth and positioning of the Ram and Dodge brands for part of that time."

Scrapyard Gem: 1999 Alfa Romeo 166, Screwball Rally Edition

SHERBURN-IN-ELMET, England — Alfa Romeo took a break from selling new cars in the United States after 1995, when the final Spider Veloces and 164s were sold here. That beat Fiat and Lancia (both of which departed after 1982), but still deprived us of the Alfa 164's handsome successor: the 166. The easiest way to find discarded 166s is to cross the Atlantic, so that's what I did recently. I've been spending a lot of time in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in recent years, being the descendant of immigrants from that tiny but proud nation, and there are still quite a few 166s prowling the streets of Luxembourg City. Despite their reputation for unreliability and horrifically rapid depreciation, the 166 looks so good that I remain tempted to ship one home. The facelifted model in the photo above had its debut as a 2003 model and thus won't be legal in the United States until 2028, but the first-year '99s shouldn't raise any U.S. Customs eyebrows when you pick one up at your local port. I was hoping to shoot plenty of interesting Italian iron during my trip to the scrapyards of Yorkshire in January, so I headed over to Sherburn Motor Spares, located on the very land in Sherburn-in-Elmet where the famous Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers of Bismarck-crippling fame were built. This yard specialises in Italian and French cars; it's what we'd call a dismantler in the United States, so customers aren't allowed to pull their own parts unless they get permission beforehand. There's a nice little breakfast joint located just out front, which was welcome on a below-freezing Yorkshire morning, and the employees are very friendly (though a bit difficult to understand if you come from anywhere else in the English-speaking world). Inside, you'll find plenty of Alfa Romeos, Fiats, Peugeots, Citroens, Renaults and even a few Toyota MR2s; I spotted an extremely rare Alfa Romeo Brera S, which was one of a mere 500 built. Cars rust quickly and inspections are rigorous in England, so I didn't see many machines built prior to our current century. Well back in one of the rows, however, was this first-year 166 done up in some kind of racing livery. The cars were packed and stacked so closely that I wasn't able to get great photos of this car, but Sherburn Motor Spares has included some pre-stacking photos in their eBay store.

Stellantis says its 2021 performance has been better than expected

MILAN — Stellantis softened up investors ahead of its electrification strategy event on Thursday by flagging that 2021 got off to a better-than-expected start despite a chip shortage that has hit automakers worldwide. Stellantis, which was formed in January from the merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France's PSA, faces an investor community keen to hear how it plans to come up with a range of electrified vehicles (EVs) to rival Tesla. At its "EV Day 2021" kicking off at 1230 GMT, Stellantis will disclose significant investments in electrification technology and connected software as it aims to be an industry frontrunner, it said in a statement. In April, Chief Executive Carlos Tavares said it would offer low-emission versions — either battery or hybrid electric — of almost all of its European models by 2025, and they should make up 70% of European sales and 35% of U.S. sales by 2030. Stellantis, the world's fourth-biggest automaker, has 14 brands in its stable, including Jeep, Ram, Opel, Fiat, Peugeot and Maserati.   Stellantis EV Day coverage: Dodge will launch the 'world's first electric muscle car' in 2024 Fully electric Ram 1500 will begin production in 2024 Jeep will have 4xe plug-in hybrid models across the lineup by 2025 Stellantis teases mystery electric Chrysler concept Stellantis previews 4 electric platforms: Here's how they'll be used Fiat says all Abarth models to be electric from 2024 Opel Manta E will be the electric revival of the classic German coupe Stellantis says its 2021 performance has been better than expected   At a similar EV strategy event last week, French rival Renault announced that 90% of its main brand models would be all-electric by 2030, whereas previously it had included hybrids in its target. Germany's Volkswagen, the world's second-biggest automaker after Toyota, expects all-electric vehicles to make up 55% of its total sales in Europe by 2030, and more than 70% of sales at its Volkswagen brand. Stellantis said its margins on adjusted operating profits in the first half of 2021 were expected to exceed an annual target of between 5.5% and 7.5%, despite production losses due to a global shortage of semiconductor supplies. Stellantis shares listed in Milan were down 2.6% at 0920 GMT, underperforming the broader European car index. Bestinver analyst Marco Opipari said Thursday's news was positive but that the stock was suffering from profit taking as it had moved up about 20% since the end of April.