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Alfa Romeo franchises 86 dealers across North America

Alfa Romeo's return to North America has been a long time coming, which has given us plenty of time to wonder: Will the now-merged Fiat-Chrysler let Fiat dealers sell Alfas, or will the shapely Italians be available in Maserati dealers? The answer we've been waiting for? Both. Auburn Hills has just released the list of 86 initial dealers that will be authorized to sell the Alfa Romeo 4C (Autoblog senior editor Seyth Miersma is driving one today in San Francisco, incidentally), setting the groundwork for a larger Alfa Romeo lineup to follow. The list includes 82 dealers across 33 states and four more in Canada. Though the vast majority are expanding upmarket from Fiat studios, a few are branching downmarket from Maserati dealers - not a one of them, in case you were wondering, having expanded from a Ferrari showroom. The highest concentration of dealers will be found in California, Texas and Florida, but while you might have thought Little Italy would be a prime location, there won't be a single dealer in Manhattan. Not in any of the five boroughs, in fact, so if you live in New York, you'll have to trek out to Larchmont in Westchester or Somerville, New Jersey, to place your order. Of course, that's at least the case for now, as Alfa plans to eventually expand to over 300 dealers in North America. In the meantime, you can check out the full list in the press release below to see how close you are to a new Alfa dealer. ALFA ROMEO FRANCHISES AWARDED TO 86 DEALERS IN U.S. AND CANADA - Alfa Romeo dealer network established in U.S. and Canada - Initial pool of 86 dealers drawn from existing FIAT and Maserati brand dealers - Additional Alfa Romeo franchises to be awarded later this year June 10, 2014 , Auburn Hills, Mich. - An initial group of 86 dealers have been awarded Alfa Romeo franchises in the United States and Canada. In the U.S., 82 Alfa Romeo dealers are located in 33 states, with California, Texas, and Florida having the largest concentration of dealerships. There are four Alfa Romeo dealers in Canada in this first group. These 86 dealers will be the first to sell the all-new 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C coupe and limited-edition 4C Launch Edition when the iconic Italian sports car brand returns to the North American market this year. "This group of dealers represents the first phase in the Alfa Romeo dealer network selection process," said Peter Grady, Vice President of Network Development, Chrysler Group LLC.

These 'blind' automotive world record stunts have to stop

Drivers setting world records "blind" – wearing a blindfold or with something obscuring the windshield – is the new thing for some reason. First it was an Alfa Romeo Giulia setting a blind lap at Silverstone with help from a spotter trailing behind, and now this: a stunt man doing a J-turn within a narrow path with nothing but a Nissan Juke's cameras guiding him. He matched the "sighted" J-turn record, flipping the car around in a space about 7 inches longer than the car. I have two issues with these stunts. First, there are just too many world records. Yeah, I said it. Are these meaningful? Is someone else likely to ever attempt this feat? No, because it's just marketing, both for the manufacturer and whoever's still trying to sell those annual books. Stuff like the fastest production car is fine with me. Heck, I'll even take unofficial Nurburgring times – the kind where the drivers can actually see. Second, I'm all for stunts, but do something cool! And preferably something that could only be performed with that particular car, if you're going to make an ad out of it. Yes, the Juke has an Around View Monitor system, which stitches together feeds from four cameras to make it look like the car is being filmed by a drone hovering overhead. I happen to love 360-degree cameras – they let you see things that are just not visible from the driver's seat and make parking and low-speed maneuvering really easy. But the Juke isn't the first car to offer one, and the feature isn't even new to the car. Nissan was at least forthright enough to admit that this professional driver (on a closed course!) had a bunch of practice. But this really says more about his precision driving skills than about the car, or the camera. And just so we're clear, you really shouldn't try to park a car without looking out the windows, even if you have fancy cameras. So what's next? Pretty soon there will be a record for blindest blind stunt. Let me know when someone actually does something interesting. Related Video:

Alfa Romeo 4C coupe will be gone for 2019, but the Spider lives on

This post has been updated with confirmation from Alfa Romeo. Not with an expensive bang, but a barely audible whimper: That's the way Alfa Romeo's 4C sports coupe goes out. The slow-selling mid-engined car has been cut from the lineup for next year. An Alfa Romeo spokesperson has confirmed to Autoblog that the 4C coupe will be gone from Alfa's U.S. portfolio after the 2018 model year. It will remain for sale in this country while supplies last, and will still be produced for other markets around the world. View 12 Photos The 4C never sold in enormous numbers during its 2014-on tenure, but monthly sales have slowed down to just a couple dozen cars in the past year. In January, 12 were sold, with October 2017 a particular high point with 45 units delivered. By contrast, the strongest month was January 2015 with 97 4Cs sold. Not a single month has seen three-figure U.S. sales. Those sales figures seem to cover both 4C models, so we can only assume the coupe was the weaker part of those numbers. However, if a 4C is what you want, you don't have to give up on the dream. The open-topped Spider version remains on sale, but Motor Authority reports that it gets a $1,000 price hike for next year, to $66,900; at $55,900 the coupe was $10,000 cheaper than the open version, so those wanting one should act on it quickly. In addition, the racing-oriented Track Package will be unavailable after 2018. That included handling improvements like sturdier sway bars and better shocks, along with sportier wheels and tires. Related Video: Related Gallery 2018 Alfa Romeo 4C Competizione: Geneva 2018 View 11 Photos News Source: Motor AuthorityImage Credit: FCA Alfa Romeo Car Buying Coupe Performance alfa romeo 4c alfa romeo 4c spider