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Touring Superleggera planning a tribute to one of Alfa Romeo's most beautiful cars

Italian coachbuilder Touring Superleggera will help Alfa Romeo celebrate its 110th birthday by putting a modern spin on one of its most graceful sports cars. Called Berlinetta Aero, the coupe will break cover in July 2020. The preview image released by Touring Superleggera does a formidable job of hiding the model's overall lines. It shows what's essentially a sculpture that's half shrouded in darkness. However, it's revealing enough to tell stylists traced a parallel between the Berlinetta Aero and the one-off Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B Speciale Tipo Le Mans (pictured below) built by Touring to compete in the 1938 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It wore an extra-long hood and a short rear end, defining styling cues that seem to appear on the modern recreation. Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B Speciale Tipo Le Mans View 3 Photos As its name indicates, the 8C 2900 was powered by a 2.9-liter straight-eight that sent 220 horsepower to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual transmission. Touring doesn't have a straight-eight to play with in 2020, so it will allegedly power the Berlinetta Touring with the Giulia GTA's twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6. It develops 540 horsepower when it's bolted in the Alfa's engine bay, though a power hike isn't inconceivable. Touring Superleggera planned to introduce the Berlinetta Aero at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but the 2020 event was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Its unveiling will consequently take place online, according to Italian website Motori. Additional details (like the unveiling date) will be published in the coming weeks. Touring hasn't said anything about pricing or production figures yet, but it's safe to assume the Berlinetta Aero will be expensive and rare. For context, it capped production of the gorgeous, 8C-based Disco Volante it unveiled in 2012 at eight examples, and it built five units of the Ferrari F12-based Berlinetta Lusso shown in 2015.

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.

Alfa Romeo abandoned the Spider to focus on crossovers

As much as enthusiasts like to forget or deny it, automakers are in the business of making money, and sometimes that means doing things that seem counter to a brand's image or history. Alfa Romeo, for example, is attempting to make a comeback in the US. The make has a long history of making sporty vehicles, so news that Alfa has ceased plans on some new cars in order to focus on crossovers should be disappointing, but far from surprising. The new Fiat 124 Spider, based on and build alongside the Mazda Miata, was originally supposed to be a new Alfa Romeo Spider. A while back, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne has said that as long as he's in charge, Alfas will be built in Italy. That seemed to be reasoning enough for the new car's switch to Fiat, but Automotive News is reporting that the company actually abandoned the new Spider in order to build SUVs. The Spider isn't the only vehicle that appears to be off the table. While the new BMW 3 Series-sized Giulia is set to hit dealers later this year, larger sedans meant to compete against the 5 Series and 6 Series have been axed. Alfa's first crossover, the Stelvio, is expected to debut later this year. The company has plans for a Giulia-based crossover as well. A lot of this seems counter to Alfa and FCA's five-year plan that was announced fewer than three years ago. Then, the 400,000 annual sales target worldwide by 2018 powered by Italian-designed and -built engines. In actuality, the company has struggled to get even the Giulia to market, delaying everything else in its wake. Related Video: