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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.

‘Yee haw’ in Italian - Alfa Romeo Giulia is the Car of Texas

You can't underestimate the visceral pull of the new Giulia Quadrifoglio's 505 horsepower wrapped in Alfa Romeo's sweet, seductive sheetmetal. Autoblog said the hottest Giulia "puts some practical meat on the bone for American drivers bored of the usual Audi A4/Mercedes C-Class/ BMW 3 Series suspects." The Quadrifoglio delivers 60 mph in 3.8 seconds and laps the Nurburgring Nordschleife in just 7:32. This makes it - for the moment - the fastest four-passenger production car around the 12.9-mile circuit. Austin's Circuit of the Americas F1 venue isn't Germany's Nordschleife, but that's where the Texas Auto Writers Association gathered for its annual Spring Roundup - some 50 auto writers, broadcasters and bloggers evaluating 40-plus cars and crossovers in 11 categories, with best-of-class wins such as Performance Car of Texas, Family Car of Texas and – ultimately – best of show, the Car of Texas. In a vote as out of the blue as that one back in November, Giulia got the nod. When evaluating a Car of Texas at a track, the Giulia Quadrifoglio is a no-brainer. Beyond its brute power is a linear dynamic behind the wheel, even if the track's official road speed for this event was 60 miles per hour. Competing against it in the Performance Sedan category were the Dodge Charger R/T and SRT Hellcat, along with a Lexus GS F and VW Jetta GLI. Beyond its surfeit of power is the Giulia's raucous personality and – we'll admit – novelty. Many of the younger journalists at COTA had only vague memories of the brand. This was also, regrettably, a relatively weak grouping of performance machinery. The headliners – such as the Mercedes-AMG GT S and Nissan GT-R – were prominent, but cars most likely to be tagged a Car of Texas, such as a Shelby Mustang or hot Camaro, weren't. Ford brought only its Focus RS, and GM execs have deemed regional press events not worthy of their attention. Also, both BMW and Audi were no-shows, although – in defense of the Giulia – the M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63S were whipped by the Alfa in at least one recent hot sedan comparison. In short, Alfa swept a smallish field. But a win's a win, and every win bodes well for Alfa, even in a market where the first car is a truck, and the second car might be a second truck. Related Video: Auto News Alfa Romeo Ownership Luxury Performance Sedan no ribbon

Alfa Romeo's midsize sedan due in June, and we'll get it

As the calendar shifts, so do Alfa Romeo's plans. At the LA Auto Show, Harald Wester, head of Alfa Romeo, said the brand would unveil its second US model – after the 4C – next June, but he wouldn't identify the type of car. A report in Automotive News Europe, quoting sources, says that it will be a midsize sedan in the mold of the erstwhile 159 (pictured) that was supposed to become the Giulia but now has a new brief and perhaps a new name. "Giulia" should be familiar because we've been hearing about it for more than three years – in fact it was 2011 when it was thrown back on the drawing board for a complete redesign. Last year the plan – or the anonymously-sourced bits of the plan that we kept getting – were for the platform to go rear-wheel drive and do duty for both a BMW 3 Series and 5 Series competitor. ANE's latest intel is that the coming midsize sedan will be come in between the 3 Series and 5 Series – a strategy used by the original Cadillac CTS – slotting in beneath a "flagship sedan" that would fit between the 5 Series and 7 Series. That would appear to contradict a direct challenge to the entry-level segment's standard-bearer, and perhaps the M3, too. Those two Alfa sedans would be part of an eight-model onslaught happening over the next four years, which is a new matrix compared to April of this year when that was reported to be six models over the next five years. ANE says work has started on three of them, a midsize SUV said to be the third. The push is to get Alfa to 400,000 annual sales – 100,000 more than the April target – with the US accounting for 150,000 of that. News Source: Automotive News Europe - sub. req. Alfa Romeo Sedan alfa romeo giulia giulia