08 Maserati Executive Leather Low Miles Clean Garage Kept Smooth Transmission on 2040-cars

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Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: The next five years

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past 24 hours, you've no doubt read about all of the big future product news coming out of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles today. We had individual brand reports from Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Maserati and even Ferrari, but in the interest of simplifying and summarizing, we're going to list out the hard facts once more. Of course, with all of this still off in the future, there's still the possibility that a few changes will be made. But as of what we know right now, here's what's coming, and what's going away.
Chrysler
2014: Refreshed 300/300C, debuting at Los Angeles Auto Show

Maserati says no to all-electric future, says U.S. chief

The future internal combustion remains questionable as automakers push for electrification. But not for Maserati, according to a report from Motor Trend on an investor call discussing first-quarter earnings. According to the outlet, FCA CEO Michael Manley and Maserati North America's head honcho, Al Gardner, made it known on the call that Maserati does not have any plans to say goodbye to good 'ol gasoline power. Rather, the company is planning to embrace electrification in different ways, such as hybridization. "This is a brand that needs combustion engines. It needs that raw emotion," Gardner told reporters at the conference. He also noted it's important for the company to get "back to its roots," citing the company's start with race cars before offering consumer vehicles. Maserati's electrification will begin as part of its model line overhaul leading up to 2022 that is also supposed to help reverse Maserati's slumping sales. Gardner noted that a new sports car will mark the start of the revamp, and we expect it will be a production version of the hotly anticipated and very sexy Alfieri Concept car. We may even see the car at Geneva next year. After that will be a new crossover smaller than the Levante, along with hybrid and plug-in hybrid variants with a few select electric vehicles. Maserati won't be the only automaker embracing electrification, as Jaguar, Volkswagen and Porsche are all pushing toward the new powertrain technology. Unlike Maserati, some of these brands are going all-in on electric cars. Volkswagen will release its last new internal combustion engine in 2026. Volvo's Polestar brand will only have pure EVs after the Polestar 1 sports car.

The troubled Alfa Romeo Giulia needs serious help [UPDATE]

UPDATE: An Alfa Romeo US spokesman responded to this article with the following statement: The safety concerns expressed in the story are false. The all-new 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia is designed and engineered to meet or exceed all federal safety regulations. The Alfa Romeo Giulia will begin production for the North American market in the late second-quarter of this year. Alfa Romeo will have a full product portfolio of premium vehicles that includes plans for (8) all-new Alfa Romeo vehicles by 2020. The product launches are prioritized by segment volumes starting this year with the Alfa Romeo Giulia production for North America starting in late Q2, followed by the Midsize-UV – the 2nd largest premium segment in North America. Even on the day you dragged them kicking and screaming and gesticulating wildly to a table full of concrete evidence, Alfa Romeo executives will never admit the Giulia program is going through a tough patch. But it is. Reports say the Giulia, on the eve of production, didn't just fail one internal crash test, but failed the front, side and rear impact tests. Alfa denies it. Automotive News published a report last week saying two suppliers had insisted the Giulia, on the eve of production, didn't just fail one internal crash test, but failed the front-, side-, and rear-impact tests. A third supplier source told us the same thing. Alfa is denying it. It was due on sale in Europe late last year and was supposed to be here in the next month or two. But it wasn't, and it won't. It was to be headlined by a twin-turbo V6 that reportedly howled its way around the Nurburgring 14 seconds faster than the BMW M3 could manage. That second part is only true if you believe it's fair to compare a full lap in a standard BMW M3 with a favorable accumulation of sector times to a development prototype Giulia with 220 pounds stripped out of it and rolling on hand-cut racing slicks. No, me neither. A Promising Start The Giulia's all-new architecture was developed in just two years by a skunkworks of young engineers headed by Fiat's engineering prince, Philippe Krief, and (bafflingly) sited inside Maserati's headquarters complex in Modena, about three hours from Alfa Romeo's own Turin HQ.