1986 Alfa Romeo Spider Veloce 115k New Transmission! No Rust! $8500 In Receipts on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Fiat set to invest $12B on new models, stop Euro losses in 3 years

Naturally, you'd expect a massive automaker like Fiat to have an in-depth plan to exit the current European-market doldrums, and you'd expect that plan to include plenty of new vehicles to attract those precious buyers that still remain despite the financial downturn. And you'd be right, though Fiat does seem to have a few unexpected twists up its corporate sleeve.
Perhaps the biggest shocker is a report that Fiat will completely drop the Punto, a car with mass-market appeal aimed at small-car buyers cross-shopping the popular Volkswagen Polo. Its replacement will be a five-door Fiat 500 aimed at upmarket buyers (sounds awfully similar to the 500L) that will be built in Poland. Lower-end customers will reportedly be served by variants of the Fiat Panda.
Borrowing a page from the BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen playbook, reports Automotive News, Fiat is said to have plans to reignite production at its Italian factories by retooling them to build high-end vehicles from Maserati and Alfa Romeo. These will be marketed as premium products, built by skilled Italian workers (who are paid wages that are 75-percent higher than those building Fiats in Poland), and will be sold around the world.

A few more details on Alfa Romeo's subcompact electric crossover for 2022

Last October, Alfa Romeo gave us a few details on a revised four-car lineup to be in place by the end of 2022. With the demise of the Giulietta later this year, the Giulia and and Stelvio would be the only models to carry on. Those two will be joined by a C-segment crossover in 2021 that we know as the Tonale, and a B-segment crossover in 2022 that we don't know much about, but that came with the asterisk, "BEV Variant Available." Autocar has begun putting together pieces of the electric model with a little help from Alfa Romeo. The mag expects the brand's fourth product to be around the size of a BMW X1 and ride on a PSA Group platform, specifically the Electric Common Module Platform (ECMP) already used by cars like the Peugeot e-2008 and Vauxhall e-Corsa. The size and expected specs make us wonder if the BEV crossover would make it here. We get the ICE-powered BMW X1 and Mercedes-Benz GLA, but we don't get the Audi Q2. The powertrain in the e-2008 puts an electric motor on the front axle with 136 horsepower and 192 pound-feet of torque, powered by a 50-kWh battery pack. Maximum range is 193 miles on the WLTP cycle, which could be considered a low bar for the American market even before factoring in the range reduction when tested on the EPA cycle. The Alfa won't be a re-branded Peugeot, though, with an automaker spokesperson telling Autocar the Italian automaker pledges to "stay consistent to Alfa Romeo’s sportiness and use electric motors for a performance approach." That could mean slightly more output from the motor, without compromising a comfortable ride. It will definitely mean switchable sound creation that aims "to get emotion from both the driver and car." We know Alfa Romeo will release the same crossover with an internal combustion engine, which we'd expect to sit on Peugeot's CMP bones, a likelier proposition for sales in North America. The subcompact won't simply shrink the look of the plug-in hybrid Tonale (pictured in concept form), but will have its own personality. “A family feel will be respected," the rep said. "We have style themes across the range – but we donÂ’t want to do a copy and paste across the lineup, because every segment has its own personality. ..." Unless there's another reboot before 2022, these four models will be the team Alfa Romeo plans to ride to 400,000 annual sales, more than three times the automaker's global sales in 2018.

Alfa 4C to set the pace as WTCC safety car

With just 240 horsepower on tap, the Alfa Romeo 4C may not be the most powerful sports car on the market. But its lightweight construction ensures that it has a power-to-weight ratio better than cars with twice the output. In short, it belongs at the front of the pack, and that's just where it will be for this year's World Touring Car Championship. That's because Alfa's nimble little sports car has been selected as the new safety car (what we'd call a "pace car") for the WTCC, starting next month with the season opener at the Moulay El Hassan Circuit in Marrakech, Morocco. For that purpose it's been fitted with the special red and black livery you see here, and will presumably carry some extra safety equipment like emergency lighting, and a couple of fire extinguishers and a first aid kit on board in case it arrives at the scene of an accident before the medical support car can get there. This year will see some new entries in the FIA's top touring car series as the new Honda Civic WTCC makes its debut with four cars on the grid, Citroen entering the series with the new C-Elysee with nine-time rally champ Sebastien Loeb and four-time WTCC champ Yvan Muller behind the wheel. After a Euro-centric start to the season, the series heads to the US in mid-September for the race at Sonoma before winding up with three rounds in the Far East. The Alfa Romeo 4C Will Be the FIA WTCC Safety Car - Eurosport Events, promoter of the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) appointed by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), has chosen the captivating Alfa Romeo supercar as Safety Car for the 2014 season - The multi-award-winning coupe will make its debut on the track with a special livery on 12 and 13 April on the Moulay El Hassan circuit of Marrakech - The recognition is linked to its winning the prestigious Grand Prize as Most Beautiful Car of 2013 at the 29th International Automobile Festival of Paris On display this week at the 84th Geneva International Motor Show with the preview of the Spider version, the Alfa Romeo 4C was chosen by Eurosport Events as the Safety Car of the FIA World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) for the entire 2014 season. The multi-award-winning coupe will therefore be present with a special livery on the World Touring Car Championship circuits starting from the first event that will be held on the Moulay El Hassan Circuit of Marrakech (Morocco) on 12 and 13 April.