1969 Alfa Romeo Spider Base 1.8l on 2040-cars

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Amazon opens contest for The Grand Tour tickets in the US

British enthusiasts already had the opportunity to win tickets to the first taping of The Grand Tour, and now Amazon has opened up a similar chance for customers in the US. In celebration of Prime Day, which starts today, customers in the US can enter The Grand Tour Prime Day Prize Draw. The prize includes travel, $200 to spend, accommodation, and a meet and greet with Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May. Customers that are interested fulfilling a childhood dream should visit Amazon's website and fill out the entry form soon as the draw closes on July 12. The Grand Tour will launch this fall as an exclusive for Amazon Prime members with the exact city locations for studio records set to be revealed later this summer. Amazon, however, did reveal that the trio will host shows in the UK, US, and Germany. So there's no need to get too upset if you don't win the draw. With Top Gear getting a major shakeup with the departure of Chris Evans, we're itching to see Clarkson, Hammond, and May behind the wheel of cars again. The trio, it seems, is also excited to get the new show rolling as Clarkson posted a drifty video on his Facebook page. The trio are currently in Italy filming a comparison between an Aston Martin DB11, a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, and Rolls-Royce Dawn. The five-second clip has the Challenger Hellcat and DB11 drifting head-on into the camera crew, which is behind the wheel of an Alfa Romeo. News Source: Amazon, FacebookImage Credit: The Grand Tour TV/Movies Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Dodge the grand tour

Alfa Romeo planning a four-cylinder, 350-hp Giulia Veloce?

At the moment, Alfa Romeo sells a 2.0-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder Giulia with 280 horsepower for $37,995, and a 2.9-liter, twin-turbo six-cylinder Giulia Quadrifoglio with 505 hp for $72,000. A vacuum separates those poles, and the marketplace, echoing nature, hates it. Some recent Internet sleuthing in The Netherlands and in the U.S. might have identified a suitable object to fill that void: a 350-hp version of the 2.0-liter turbo. Last December, Dutch shop Squadra Tuning discovered an entry on Fiat Chrysler's Dutch-market parts site for a 2.0-liter turbo Giulia producing 350 metric horsepower (345 U.S. ponies). Not long after that, an Autoevolution reader submitted an image of an FCA document for the NAFTA region, which listed a 2.0-liter, 350-hp model for the USA equipped with the eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. The name of the model powered by that engine: "Giulia Veloce." Certain international markets already offer a Veloce trim with an auto transmission and all-wheel drive, but engine choices are the 280-hp 2.0-liter we already get, and a 2.2-liter turbodiesel we don't get. If those overseas discoveries were merely smoke, conjecture took a huge step toward fire a few days ago when Bozi Tatarevic found a 2.0-liter, 350-hp engine option on Mopar Tech Authority, FCA's OEM service portal. Car and Driver asked Alfa Romeo for clarification, the carmaker responding, "No plans for any other engines for Giulia in North America for 2018 model year besides the 2.0L and 2.9L [gasoline] versions." Having ruled 2018 out, onlookers have turned their eyes to 2019 for the introduction of this 350-hp motor. What's more, a comment on Tatarevic's tweet sends speculation into 48-volt overboost. Twitter user Rob P replied, "This is pretty well established as happening. MY2019, USA only. 280hp + 48V electrical system + elec. assisted turbo = ~350bhp 'Veloce' in USA nomenclature." No matter how the horses are made, assuming 350 cavalli make it across the Atlantic, Alfa's lineup will profit from the addition: Buyers in the sport sedan segment would get some Italian sprezzatura to cross-shop against German Monumentalitat. Related Video: News Source: Bozi Tatarevic / Twitter via Road and Track Rumormill Alfa Romeo Luxury Performance Sedan FCA alfa romeo giulia 48-volt system giulia

A few more details on Alfa Romeo's subcompact electric crossover for 2022

Last October, Alfa Romeo gave us a few details on a revised four-car lineup to be in place by the end of 2022. With the demise of the Giulietta later this year, the Giulia and and Stelvio would be the only models to carry on. Those two will be joined by a C-segment crossover in 2021 that we know as the Tonale, and a B-segment crossover in 2022 that we don't know much about, but that came with the asterisk, "BEV Variant Available." Autocar has begun putting together pieces of the electric model with a little help from Alfa Romeo. The mag expects the brand's fourth product to be around the size of a BMW X1 and ride on a PSA Group platform, specifically the Electric Common Module Platform (ECMP) already used by cars like the Peugeot e-2008 and Vauxhall e-Corsa. The size and expected specs make us wonder if the BEV crossover would make it here. We get the ICE-powered BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA, but we don't get the Audi Q2. The powertrain in the e-2008 puts an electric motor on the front axle with 136 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque, powered by a 50-kWh battery pack. Maximum range is 193 miles on the WLTP cycle, which could be considered a low bar for the American market even before factoring in the range reduction when tested on the EPA cycle. The Alfa won't be a re-branded Peugeot, though, with an automaker spokesperson telling Autocar the Italian automaker pledges to "stay consistent to Alfa Romeo’s sportiness and use electric motors for a performance approach." That could mean slightly more output from the motor, without compromising a comfortable ride. It will definitely mean switchable sound creation that aims "to get emotion from both the driver and car." We know Alfa Romeo will release the same crossover with an internal combustion engine, which we'd expect to sit on Peugeot's CMP bones, a likelier proposition for sales in North America. The subcompact won't simply shrink the look of the plug-in hybrid Tonale (pictured in concept form), but will have its own personality. “A family feel will be respected," the rep said. "We have style themes across the range – but we donÂ’t want to do a copy and paste across the lineup, because every segment has its own personality. ..." Unless there's another reboot before 2022, these four models will be the team Alfa Romeo plans to ride to 400,000 annual sales, more than three times the automaker's global sales in 2018.