1987 Alfa Romeo Spider Quadrifoglio on 2040-cars

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Alfa Romeo to launch crossover in 2016

Alfa Romeo has an ambitious product plan in place to revive the marque and bring it back to North America. And according to the latest reports, that includes a new crossover. A dozen years after the reveal of the Kamal concept pictured here, the new, as-yet-unnamed production crossover – referred to internally as Project 949 – will be Alfa's first, arriving hot on the heels of sister-company Maserati's upcoming Levante crossover. The high-riding Alfa will be about the size of the Audi Q5 or BMW X3, and is reportedly being developed on the same rear-drive "Giorgio" platform as the replacement for the discontinued 159 sedan, which is expected to be called Giulia overseas but possibly wear the 6C moniker in North America when it's unveiled on June 24 at the Alfa Romeo museum outside Milan. Both models are expected to be produced at the company's Cassino plant near Rome, and feature a new family of engines including a high-output diesel V6. A larger crossover is set to follow as well. Featured Gallery Alfa Romeo Kamal concept News Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req.Image Credit: Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Crossover alfa romeo giulia

2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia First Drive | All about the little things

ALBEROBELLO, Italy – Little things can make a big difference. And for the 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia, it's the little things that have been addressed, those that have been causing reviewers to kvetch and customers to look elsewhere. The cupholders that cause bottles to bang into the HVAC controls. The shifter and knobs made of cheap plastic that wobble about in your hand. The backwoods entertainment system that makes an Audi's look like it's been beamed in from the far-flung future.  The big things? They've been left untouched, almost entirely for the best. The Giulia's exceptional driving credentials have been well-documented with multiple awards and much gushing about divine steering and an astute chassis. For 2020, they're unchanged apart from some imperceptible tweaks to the steering that iron out an occasional low-speed refinement issue. Even when driven on the regrettably non-winding roads of southern Italy's "heel," the Giulia continues to come across as something different and special. That steering is pleasingly quick and full of feeling, friendly to both those who yearn for man-machine connection and those who'd rather not get an upper body workout when parking at Kroger. The Giulia feels light and playful, with a stiff chassis and adeptly tuned suspension. When people talk about sport sedans losing their edge (cough BMW 3 Series), it can still be found in the Giulia. At the same time, the adaptive dampers available in the Ti trim's Performance package impressively sops up nasty bumps, of which there are a great many around Italy's heel (AKA Puglia). Cars with such a sporting "edge" are often given a pass when it comes to ride quality, as a sore back and kidneys bruised by the seat bolsters are considered par for the course. The Giulia needs no such handicap. If there's a meh moment, it's the engine. Much is rightly made about the Quadrifoglio's 2.9-liter turbo V6 derived from Ferrari and possibly divine intervention. By contrast, the standard 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four doesn't offer much in the way of zest. Oh, its 280 horsepower and 306 pound-feet of torque are class-leading, and its 5.1-second estimated 0-60 time is exceptional. In sound, however, it's just another turbo-four, and most disappointingly, its 5,500-rpm redline is a real buzzkill. It's not exactly diesel-like, but it's close.

Baby Jeep to join Renegade in FCA's plan for new Italian-built models

FCA is boosting its European production, introducing new models that will be built in currently under-utilized manufacturing facilities. Among the new models is a new small Jeep, smaller than the current Renegade, as Automotive News reports. FCA's Mike Manley mentioned the entry-level Jeep model earlier this year, also saying that the vehicle is targeted to European and possibly Latin American customers; in the summer, Autocar placed the launch date in 2022. The new "baby" Jeep would be made in the same factory in Pomigliano, Italy, as the small Fiat Panda, which is a top seller in Italy. The current generation Panda was introduced in 2011; if it gets a replacement in 2022, it could possibly share a platform with the Jeep model — or, the Jeep could be an eventual outright replacement for the Panda. One of Fiat's earlier core products, the Punto hatchback, was canned in August, and that production capacity will be used to make the Jeep Compass instead, at the Renegade-producing Melfi factory in southern Italy. The Compass has not previously been built in Europe. The Fiat model portfolio would be shrunk to just the 500 model family and the Panda — the 500 would also be FCA's key electric vehicle offered in Europe. It is not yet clear whether the electric 500 would be made in Turin, Italy, or in Poland; Turin might also get a Giardiniera-badged wagon version of the refreshed 500. As for the Alfa Romeo brand, it is set to gain an even bigger SUV model than the Stelvio, based on the Maserati Levante's platform. The Levante's sales have suffered recently in China, but Maserati does have light in the horizon: The Alfieri 2+2 grand tourer is still in the cards, with a launch expected for 2020 and both a convertible and an electrified version planned to follow. The Alfieri would be made in Modena, Italy, according to Automotive News' sources. None of these plans namedrop the storied Lancia brand, which has been shrunk to just the Ypsilon hatchback, based on the same platform as the current 500 and Panda. Despite that, the Ypsilon was again the second-bestselling car in Italy after the Panda in October. It is unlikely that FCA will be able to ignore this, but it is just as unlikely that any development money will be afforded to come up with a replacement for the Ypsilon, which is as similarly old as the Panda. Perhaps official announcements expected on Thursday will also clarify what will happen to Lancia.