1969 Alfa Boat Tail Spider In Verde Pino on 2040-cars

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Marchionne threatens to move Alfa production out of Italy

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne was unsurprisingly frank when asked by reporters about potential investments in Italian manufacturing for Alfa Romeo and Maserati, giving the Italian government the ultimatum, "Italy should decide if they want [Alfa Romeo's relaunch] to happen here or not as Fiat and Chrysler have several alternatives." Them's fightin' words.
Fiat's issue with the government stems directly from its courtroom clashes with the Fiom labor union. The two are currently embroiled in proceedings over longer shifts and shorter breaks, as Fiom has so far refused to sign a new contract citing revised labor laws that it says are anti-union.
According to Bloomberg, Fiat will be spending over $2.5 billion on development of eight new Alfas and six new Maseratis, in a bid to wrest some of the luxury pie away from BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. But that's only going to happen if the government is willing to play ball and make life easier on Fiat.

These 'blind' automotive world record stunts have to stop

Drivers setting world records "blind" – wearing a blindfold or with something obscuring the windshield – is the new thing for some reason. First it was an Alfa Romeo Giulia setting a blind lap at Silverstone with help from a spotter trailing behind, and now this: a stunt man doing a J-turn within a narrow path with nothing but a Nissan Juke's cameras guiding him. He matched the "sighted" J-turn record, flipping the car around in a space about 7 inches longer than the car. I have two issues with these stunts. First, there are just too many world records. Yeah, I said it. Are these meaningful? Is someone else likely to ever attempt this feat? No, because it's just marketing, both for the manufacturer and whoever's still trying to sell those annual books. Stuff like the fastest production car is fine with me. Heck, I'll even take unofficial Nurburgring times – the kind where the drivers can actually see. Second, I'm all for stunts, but do something cool! And preferably something that could only be performed with that particular car, if you're going to make an ad out of it. Yes, the Juke has an Around View Monitor system, which stitches together feeds from four cameras to make it look like the car is being filmed by a drone hovering overhead. I happen to love 360-degree cameras – they let you see things that are just not visible from the driver's seat and make parking and low-speed maneuvering really easy. But the Juke isn't the first car to offer one, and the feature isn't even new to the car. Nissan was at least forthright enough to admit that this professional driver (on a closed course!) had a bunch of practice. But this really says more about his precision driving skills than about the car, or the camera. And just so we're clear, you really shouldn't try to park a car without looking out the windows, even if you have fancy cameras. So what's next? Pretty soon there will be a record for blindest blind stunt. Let me know when someone actually does something interesting. Related Video:

It's finally here! | 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia First Drive

There's been an Alfa Romeo Giulia-shaped hole waiting to be filled in the American car market for what feels like forever. A couple years ago, Alfa rejoined the US car party with the flawed but hugely entertaining 4C, reigniting passions after a decades-long absence but leading to little in the way of sales volume. That single offering acted only as a tease for those wanting a properly practical, five-person sports sedan. After a true-to-Italy leisurely wait, the Giulia has arrived. The 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia puts some practical meat on the bone for American drivers bored of the usual Audi A4/Mercedes C-Class/BMW 3 Series suspects. Even better, the new Italian-made sedan comes packed with some heavy artillery, the top Quadrifoglio model offering 505 horsepower and returning a 3.8-second 0–60 mph run as well as a shockingly quick Nurburgring Nordschleife time of 7:32 – which, for the record, makes it the fastest four-passenger production car around the 12.9-mile circuit. For context, that's six seconds quicker than a Lamborghini Gallardo LP570-4 Superleggera, and a full 20 seconds faster than a BMW M4. Our first taste of the highly anticipated Giulia brought us to Sonoma Raceway and some local roads nearby in California's wine country. As we approach the pack of cars warming in pit lane, there is further evidence that the Giulia Quadrifoglio is serious: its Ferrari-derived 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 sounds snarly and sweet, and cars passing on track report raspy exhaust coughs between shifts. When you go to get in, there's a slight chance of bumping your head on the low-slung roof – wouldn't be an Italian car without an ergonomic quirk, right? The test car appears to be equipped with a full gamut of options: leather across the dash, carbon-fiber trim breaking up the bovine bits, an Alcantara- and leather-covered steering wheel, and the standard eight-speed automatic (the only transmission option for US-market Giulias). This is a distinctly Italian execution, with unique details like green and white top-stitching. But there are also splashes of conventional design throughout, including the analog tach and speedo with a multifunction screen positioned between them, and a steering wheel flanked by tall aluminum shift paddles that are attached to the column and remain stationary.