1969 Alfa Romeo Spider Base 1.8l on 2040-cars

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For his last act, Marchionne will outline an EV/hybrid roadmap this week

MILAN/LONDON — Fiat Chrysler (FCA) boss Sergio Marchionne is expected to outline new plans for electric and hybrid cars in a strategy presentation on Friday, aiming to ensure the world's seventh-largest carmaker remains in the race in the absence of a merger. The 65-year-old will present FCA's strategy to 2022, his final contribution to the company he turned around and multiplied in value through 14 years of canny dealmaking. After failing to secure a tie-up he said was necessary to manage the costs of producing cleaner vehicles, Marchionne needs to show the group can keep churning out profits on its own, even as emissions rules tighten, SUV competition intensifies and worries around his succession abound. Marchionne had long refused to jump on the electrification bandwagon, saying he would only do so if selling battery-powered cars could be done at a profit. He even urged customers not to buy FCA's Fiat 500e, its only battery-powered model, because he was losing money on each sold. But Tesla's success and the need to comply with tougher emissions rules have forced Marchionne to commit to what he calls "most painful" spending. "FCA is way behind rivals in terms of hybrid and electric vehicles and they need to hit the accelerator to convince investors they can close that gap," said Andrea Pastorelli, a fund manager at 8a+ Investimenti. Germany's Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW and U.S. rivals GM and Ford have committed to spending billions of euros each in coming years to try produce profitable cars powered by cleaner fuels. FCA needs to present a clear roadmap, just like Volvo Cars, which ditched diesel from its best-selling XC60 SUV, launched a new electric brand and pledged to shift all brands to hybrid by 2019, a banking source close to FCA said, noting: "The tech divide determines winners and losers in the industry." Marchionne has already said half of the wider FCA fleet will incorporate some elements of electrification by 2022, while luxury marque Maserati will spearhead FCA's electrification drive by making all new models due after 2019 electric. But its plans remain vaguer and less advanced than most big rivals and some investors wonder about the capital required to make vehicles compliant, and what share of spending can go to electrification given FCA's numerous demands.

2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale First Drive: An electrifying Italian alternative

MILAN, Italy – Chicken or egg? ItÂ’s often a matter of perspective. In this case, the 2023 Dodge Hornet is based on the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale – itÂ’s even built in Italy – yet it was the Dodge that arrived first on American shores. By the narrowest of margins, true, but it happened nevertheless. That leaves the Tonale (pronounced "toe-nal-ay," not "toe-nail") to carve out a premium niche for itself above the buzzy Italian-American.   How? For starters, the Tonale is exclusively available as a plug-in hybrid in the United States. Only Canada and Mexico will get the lower-output, gasoline-only variant. Producing 285 horsepower and 347 pound-feet of torque combined, the plug-in powertrain consists of a 1.3-liter turbocharged four-banger and six-speed automatic transmission up front and a 121-horsepower electric motor on the rear axle. ThereÂ’s no physical connection between them, so power from the gas engine canÂ’t be sent rearward or vice versa. That means the Tonale is effectively rear-wheel drive when in electric-only mode. It can run like that for more than 30 miles if the 15.5-kilowatt-hour battery is fully charged, which requires about 2.5 hours on a level 2 setup. Provided you donÂ’t ask more of the powertrain than the battery and motor are able to deliver, it will putter along in combustion-free silence. Mashing the throttle will engage the gas engine no matter what hybrid mode youÂ’re in; more on those below. The standard Tonale is equipped with a MacPherson strut suspension with Frequency Selective Damping (FSD) shocks. They may sound like fancy electronic dampers but FSD shocks do their magic without any digital intervention. While not as sharp as performance-tuned shocks, nor as comfortable as those engineered to deliver the best ride, they offer a solid balance that is much less costly or complex than the adaptive setup that comes standard on the range-topping Veloce model. The VeloceÂ’s adaptive suspension is incorporated into Alfa's "DNA" drive mode selection system, tightening up in “Dynamic” and backing off in “Natural” and “Advanced Efficiency.” The TonaleÂ’s other sporty add-ons — aluminum steering column-mounted paddle shifters, aluminum pedals and red Brembo calipers with white Alfa Romeo script — are part of the “High Performance Driving Package,” which is optional on the mid-range Sprint and baked into the Veloce. The hybrid modes mentioned earlier exist outside the D-N-A dial.

Planned Alfa Romeo 8C and GTV don't appear to have a future anymore

The two Alfa Romeos we’ve been looking forward to most donÂ’t appear to have much of a future anymore, according to a report from Automobile. Both the 8C and GTV no longer exist on AlfaÂ’s product roadmap, and Mike Manley suggested they were canned, as well. “In the near term, the new portfolio for the brand is significantly scaled back with a corresponding reduction in capital spending,” Manley said, referring to Alfa Romeo in the companyÂ’s third-quarter earnings call. We've asked FCA if it can explicitly confirm anything on the 8C and GTV, but it offered no comment on the report. Additionally, FCAÂ’s presentation (uncovered by Motor1) of future Alfa Romeo vehicles left the 8C and GTV off the list. The only new cars planned for the future include a production version of the Tonale crossover and another unnamed crossover. FCAÂ’s presentation also states: “brand to focus on current market strengths with reduced global reach and overlap with other Group brands.” We all know that the strength of the market is in crossovers right now, so itÂ’s easy to infer what happens from there. Expensive, luxury sports cars are not where the scale and money is at for Alfa Romeo, a brand that isnÂ’t exactly thriving from a sales perspective today. Sales for both the Stelvio and Giulia are down in 2019 as those cars exit their honeymoon phase. Alfa is expected to have a midcycle refresh ready for consumption in 2021, so perhaps that could provide a temporary boost in sales for the Italian brand. FCA also said itÂ’s reducing planned capital spending on Alfa Romeo, which could hurt the brand even more in the future. This earnings call came the same day that the FCA-PSA merger was announced, throwing another wrench into the plan. WeÂ’re not yet sure what the merger will mean for Alfa Romeo and its presence in America, but we imagine more news on that will be coming as the companies transition to this new life together. The Giorgio platform appears to be safe for the time being, as Manley expressed his intentions to keep it around. This platform (underpinning both the Giulia and Stelvio) was developed with electrification of the powertrain in mind, so itÂ’ll be capable of handling a number of electrification efforts in FCAÂ’s future. We only wish the promising 8C and GTV wouldÂ’ve made it to production, but even Alfa appears to be thinning the herd of cars in favor of crossovers.