1989 Alfa Romeo Spyder, 5 Speed, Maintained And Bought From Rml Daytona Florida on 2040-cars

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Ralph Gilles talks minivans, Millennials, mobility, and kissing Alfa Romeos

We sat down with Ralph Gilles, the global head of design for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show. The veteran stylist has worked for the company for 25 years, and oversees the design of all of the products in the FCA portfolio – everything from mobility pods to Maseratis. This serves Gilles just fine, as his personal automotive interests are exceedingly diverse. The FCA stand was unusually quiet (until Vice President Joe Biden stopped by at the end of our time there) and Gilles was willing to weigh in on a wide range of subjects. Autoblog: We're seeing all of these autonomous mobility pods like Portal being presented at auto shows like CES or NAIAS, but we're not seeing any adoption of this kind of small vehicle in the market. What's your perspective on our pod-like autonomous future versus our truck-centric present? Ralph Gilles: Obviously I pay attention to the industry as much as your readers and yourself, and everyone has a take on the future. We had a debate, we could have done a supercar or something for pure sex appeal [ apparently that's also in the works], but we chose something practical, to really look at the future in a different perspective. We have these Millennials, a huge swath of people born between 1982 and 2004, and the oldest ones are turning 35 right about now, and a lot of them are having families later in life but when they have them they have a little more buying power, so it makes for an interesting cocktail. The one stipulation we had on the Portal project was that everyone had to be a Millennial to be on the team. So that excluded me, I had more of a coach role on the team. And to your point, the Portal in its current state as you see it is not going to be on the road tomorrow. But there's a lot of ideas, a lot of connectivity ideas, a lot of styling ideas, even lighting and technologies that will absolutely find their way into vehicles in the next few years. AB: Being a Detroiter, all of this attention we've had recently in Vegas, CES – I heard that they're maybe going to be running the show at the same time next year. Do you feel a little protective of the Detroit Show? RG: Yeah, it's something to watch. I hope it's not an aggressive thing on their part, by moving the shows on top of each other. They're both important shows. CES, I've been going to for the last five years, and it's changing. There's a lot more automotive content, but there are a lot more start-ups too, and it's interesting to watch.

Stellantis earnings rise along with EV sales

AMSTERDAM — Automaker Stellantis on Wednesday reported its earnings grew in 2022 from a year earlier and said its push into electric vehicles led to a jump in sales even as it faces growing competition from an industrywide shift to more climate-friendly offerings. Stellantis, formed in 2021 from the merger of Fiat Chrysler and FranceÂ’s PSA Peugeot, said net revenue of 179.6 billion euros ($191 billion) was up 18% from 2021, citing strong pricing and its mix of vehicles. It reported net profit of 16.8 billion euros, up 26% from 2021. Stellantis plans to convert all of its European sales and half of its U.S. sales to battery-electric vehicles by 2030. It said the strategy led to a 41% increase in battery EV sales in 2022, to 288,000 vehicles, compared with the year earlier. The company has “demonstrated the effectiveness of our electrification strategy in Europe,” CEO Carlos Tavares said in a statement. “We now have the technology, the products, the raw materials and the full battery ecosystem to lead that same transformative journey in North America, starting with our first fully electric Ram vehicles from 2023 and Jeep from 2024.” The automaker is competing in an increasingly crowded field for a share of the electric vehicle market. Companies are scrambling to roll out environmentally friendly models as they look to hit goals of cutting climate-changing emissions, driven by government pressure. The transformation has gotten a boost from a U.S. law that is rolling out big subsidies for clean technology like EVs but has European governments calling out the harm that they say the funding poses to homegrown industry across the Atlantic. Stellantis' Jeep brand will start selling two fully electric SUVs in North America and another one in Europe over the next two years. It says its Ram brand will roll out an electric pickup truck this year, joining a rush of EV competitors looking to claim a piece of the full-size truck market. The company plans to bring 25 battery-electric models to the U.S. by 2030. As part of that push, it has said it would build two EV battery factories in North America. A $2.5 billion joint venture with Samsung will bring one of those facilities to Indiana, which is expected to employ up to 1,400 workers. The other factory will be in Windsor, Ontario, a collaboration with South KoreaÂ’s LG Energy Solution that aims to create about 2,500 jobs. The EV push comes amid a slowdown in U.S.

Alfa Romeo Giulia SWB Zagato revealed as a glorious green one-off coupe

Christmas came a few days early for one lucky enthusiast in Germany. Italian design house Zagato unveiled a one-off, carbon fiber-bodied coupe called Alfa Romeo Giulia SWB Zagato that features a twin-turbocharged V6 and that was commissioned by a German collector. Zagato explained that it launched the project to celebrate 100 years of collaborating with Alfa Romeo, the current-generation Giulia and the V6 engine. It started by shortening the Giorgio platform that the Giulia and Stelvio are both built on. It then drew a head-turning coupe that borrows a handful of styling cues from several past and present Alfa models. The front end is dominated by air intakes (including one shaped like the Alfa grille) and it features a pair of Tonale-like LED headlights. The coupe's profile is characterized by a long hood, a short rear end and a carbon fiber double-bubble roof panel left unpainted, while the back end gets a thin, curved light bar and a massive air diffuser. While several cars inspired designers, including the 1989 SZ that Zagato helped design, the Giulia SWB isn't full-on retro or old-school in any way. It features carbon fiber body panels and it's powered by an evolution of the 2.9-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 engine fitted to the Giulia Quadrifoglio that's been updated to GTAm specifications. Technical specifications weren't released, but the GTAm's six is tuned to develop 540 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque. Starting with the Quadrifoglio's engine gave Zagato a big advantage: the V6 spins the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission. The limited-edition GTAm is exclusively offered with an eight-speed automatic transmission. From the driver's perspective, the cabin is mostly standard Giulia fare; you'll find the same steering wheel, touchscreen, air vents and climate control interface in the same locations as in the Giulia. Green accents and several model-specific carbon fiber trim pieces help the SWB stand out from the sedan it's based on, and a major difference between the two cars is that the coupe is fitted with only two seats.  Zagato delivered the Giulia SWB to its new owner after shooting the photos you see in our gallery on the La Pista race track located near Alfa Romeo's hometown of Milan, Italy. There's no word on who owns it yet; all we know is that the coupe will join what sounds like a massive collection of high-end cars that includes an 8C Competizione, a 1990 SZ, plus a handful of Zagato-bodied Aston Martin models.