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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.

2014 Monterey Motorsports Reunion is a symphony of classic racers

With about 550 classic racecars lapping Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca over the course of the weekend, the Monterey Motorsports Reunion might be one of the largest vintage racing events in the country, maybe even the world. It was certainly one of the highlights of the lavish Monterey festivities last weekend. This year's featured marque was Maserati, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary, and plenty of trident logos could be found on track, ranging from the 250F grand prix car to some of the company's later sports cars. Of course, with 15 groups of classic racers, there was basically something for any motorsports fan. Among the highlights were the Trans-Am race that brought together rumbling hunks of American muscle to jostle for position on track. There was also a fantastic class from the '50s and '60s with Ferraris, Corvettes and even a Volvo P1800 and Toyota S800 racing together. Watching these iconic racers back on track at full pace was just a revelation to see, smell and hear. There were too many fantastic cars to list them all, but feel free to check out Autoblog's huge gallery from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to see if you spot your favorite racecars of yesteryear. Featured Gallery 2014 Monterey Motorsports Reunion View 40 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2014 Drew Phillips / AOL Motorsports Maserati Racing Vehicles Classics Pebble Beach Laguna Seca

Maserati plans to launch Alfieri and GranTurismo by 2018

Maserati reportedly aims to have the next GranTurismo and the Alfieri (concept above) on the market by the end of 2018. According to Drive, we should see the GT sometime in 2017, and the production Alfieri doesn't arrive until 2018. The company's five-year plan in 2014 originally slated the Alfieri to arrive first in 2016 and the GranTurismo in 2018. The Alfieri will have a modified version of Maserati's current chassis, but the tweaks will incorporate more aluminum, which will make the new sports coupe lighter. "Today the architecture is shared between Ghibli, Quattroporte, and Levante," Maserati engineer Davide Danesin told Drive. "With the Alfieri we think we need to make another step on the architecture so we're going to arrive at another more sporty architecture, with some common basis but with development from there." The Alfieri and GranTurismo will also likely use Maserati's latest turbocharged V6 and V8 engines. However, the power will only go to the rear wheels because the company doesn't think all-wheel drive is right for them. "So let's say for the next sports car we don't foresee all-wheel drive to be the best option for the style. We also have some solution for some sports cars with all-wheel drive for the future but that is not what we're working on now," Danesin told Drive. After the stunning concept in 2014, the longer wait for the production Alfieri is disappointing, but at least the model appears to be still on the way. Recent rumors suggested the 2+2 sports coupe was on hold because of the weakening market in China. Company boss Harald Wester also refused to speculate about the model's future at the Geneva Motor Show, but he said the GranTurismo would arrive first. Related Video: