December 3, 201312 yr William Maley Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com December 3, 2013 Last month, we reported that Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne was hard at work on a new revival plan for Alfa Romeo that would be announced sometime next spring. But the crafty folks at Automotive News have talked with sources at the company and suppliers and have a possible rough idea of what this plan will look like. The plan will focus on a new rear and all-wheel-drive architecture that will underpin a number of future Alfa vehicles. In turn, these new vehicles will play a crucial role of selling 300,000 vehicles worldwide by 2016. What are these new vehicles? The big one is the long-rumored Giulia. Originally planned to be launched next year, the 3-Series competitor has been pushed back to late-2015 at the earliest because of this new architecture. This architecture will also underpin a new large sedan that was originally planed to use the Maserati Ghibli's architecture. Other possibilities for this architecture include a midsize and large coupe. Then there are the crossover and SUVs. First is a small crossover that would use the Jeep Compass/Patriot replacement as a base. Next is a midsize model that would use the new RWD/AWD architecture. Finally, there is a large SUV that is under consideration. This model could use the upcoming Maserati Levante as a base. Roadsters are expected to play a key role as well as the new Roadster that is being jointly worked on with Mazda is expected to arrive in 2015. Also coming is a convertible version of the 4C. One surprise from the Automotive News report is that MiTo and Giulietta will live on to fight another day. No word if they will be coming to U.S. or not. Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required) William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster. View full article
December 3, 201312 yr 3 strikes and your out, we heard this all before and they continue to rework the same old relaunch plans. Same message different platforms. Eventually they will realize they lost the opportunity and just need to fold it or have it as a niche vehicle. There is no global ability for Alfa. Those days are past I believe. I believe this is talk to just keep certain few exec's or investors pacified to keep them from causing trouble as they need to focus on the lines that can make them money and not invest billions in a line that has a past due date.
December 3, 201312 yr What really matters is that Alfa is developing a new rear-drive platform. Such a platform would undoubtedly be midsize and likely be flexible. To spread out costs Chrysler and Dodge will no doubt build vehicles off the platform, perhaps RWD midsize cars. That'd be excellent. As far as Alfa as a brand, I would like to see their future cars have front ends more like the 159 and less like the Giulietta.
December 3, 201312 yr I wonder if Fiat too a look at what GM is doing with their Alpha platform, what VW is doing with MQB... making very flexible, lightweight platforms that can be used across many brands and vehicle sizes... and decided to follow that path a bit more closely.
December 3, 201312 yr D-E-A-D is also an option if they can't come up with a proper focus for the brand...
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