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Report: Piech says Alfa Romeo sales could increase fourfold under VW ownership

Filed under: Etc., Earnings/Financials, Alfa Romeo, Fiat

Alfa Romeo builds some really good-looking rides, but that apparently hasn’t translated into profits for Fiat. In a recent interview with Forbes, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne reportedly called the Italian brand a “money loser,” and sales of the marque have consistently underwhelmed. But while Fiat has worked hard to rehab Alfa Romeo to no apparent avail, Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech feels his people can do better.

Reuters reports that Piech declared at the Geneva Motor Show that VW could raise Alfa sales from about 100,000 units per year to 400,000 or more in a scant five years. The boasting by Piech may seem more than a bit cocky, but that confidence jibes well with VW’s bold proclamations that it will become the largest automaker on earth by 2018.

So what prompted Piech to announce to the world that VW could sell more Alfas than Fiat? We have no idea, and Marchionne has shown little public interest in selling the brand in the past. VW is obviously interested in buying Italy’s sweetheart, though, and the German automaker likely has the cash and can take a liability off Fiat’s books.

[Source: Reuters | Image: Nigel Treblin/AFP/Getty]

Report: Piech says Alfa Romeo sales could increase fourfold under VW ownership originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Geneva 2011: Alfa Romeo 4C Concept shows us what matte(rs)

Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupe, Performance, Geneva Motor Show, Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo 4C Concpet at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show

Alfa Romeo 4C Concept – Click above for high-res image gallery

The beauty of Alfa Romeo is that it embodies the same sort of Italian flair as Ferrari and Maserati, but in a smaller, more accessible package. Unfortunately, their current range doesn’t offer the same level of excitement. (Well, the 8C Competizione did, but then it was hardly any more affordable than its Modenese counterparts.) Enter the Alfa 4C.

Smaller than the 8C it essentially succeeds, the 4C doesn’t shed the excitement factor, just concentrates it into a more compact shape. In fact, at less than eight feet long, it doesn’t get much more concentrated than this. Or much lighter: carbon fiber and aluminum construction helps keep the weight down to below 850 kilograms (1873 lbs). The 1750cc, direct-injection turbo four from the Giulietta QV mounted amidship drives just over 200 horsepower via Alfa’s TCT dual-clutch transmission to the rear wheels for a 0-60 time in the fours; and speed being relative to size, we bet it would be one heck of a ride along the way.

The best part? Alfa is currently evaluating production possibilities for the 4C, which could finally lead the company’s long-awaited return to the North American market. That, and the simply awesome matte red paint scheme in which the show car was unveiled here in Geneva. See for yourself in the live gallery below, and scope out the full details in the press release after the jump.

Gallery: Alfa Romeo 4C Concept: Geneva 2011

Gallery: Alfa Romeo 4C Concept

[Source: Alfa Romeo]

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Geneva 2011: Alfa Romeo 4C Concept shows us what matte(rs) originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 01 Mar 2011 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumormill: Alfa Romeo 4C GTA concept coming to Geneva

Filed under: Concept Cars, Convertible, Geneva Motor Show, Alfa Romeo, Rumormill

Pininfarina 2uettottanta

The Fiat Group has got big plans for the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. The Italian automaker will, first of all, be unveiling rebadged versions of existing Chrysler group products for the European market, with a Dodge rebadged as a Fiat and several Chryslers anticipated to debut with Lancia nameplates as well. But what of Alfa Romeo? According to reports, the hottest of Fiat’s core family will roll in with an all-new concept car.

Tentatively dubbeed the 4C GTA, the show car is tipped to pack a 265-horsepower 1.7-liter turbo four into a svelte coupe package. Like the MiTo and Giulietta, the 4C will likely take its design cues after the 8C Competizione (and hopefully a little from the Pininfarina 2uettotanta pictured above) only slotting in below the eight-cylinder supercar in the company’s line-up.

Of course it would have to be approved for production first, and right now all we’ve got are rumors from our unrelated Hellenic compatriots, so stay tuned.

[Source: Autoblog.gr]

Rumormill: Alfa Romeo 4C GTA concept coming to Geneva originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video: Bertone’s Alfa Romeo Pandion concept goes all Matrix on us

Filed under: Concept Cars, Videos, Alfa Romeo, Design/Style

Alfa Romeo Pandion concept video screencap

Bertone Pandion concept – Click above to watch the video after the jump

You remember the Bertone Pandion. Who could forget: Bertone’s Alfa Romeo show car dropped at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year to rave reviews and dropped jaws. But as fortunate as we were to lay our eyes on it at all, the truth of the matter is that the poor lighting and commercial setting of a major car expo hardly serve as the best conditions for viewing such a fine example of automotive design.

To put as advanced a concept as the Pandion into its proper context, what we really need is some futuristic, post-apocalyptic fantasy world. You know, like The Matrix or The Fifth Element or something – and we’re not talking about some Toyota hatchback, either. Fortunately, someone’s done exactly that, and we’ve placed the video after the jump for your cyber-dreaming enjoyment. Heck, if this is what’s waiting on the other side, we’ll take whatever pill Cadillac’s new spokesman tells us to. Thanks for the tip, Boby!

Gallery: Geneva 2010: Bertone Pandion

[Source: YouTube]

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Video: Bertone’s Alfa Romeo Pandion concept goes all Matrix on us originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Dec 2010 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alfa Romeo Giulietta G430 iMove Marangoni debuts in Bologna

Filed under: Aftermarket, Europe, Hatchback, Misc. Auto Shows, Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo Giulietta G430 iMove Marangoni – Click above for high-res image gallery

Think of Alfa Romeo and the color you’ll likely be picturing is red. But a custom version of the Giulietta unveiled at the Bologna Motor Show has gone a decidedly greener route.

Outfitted by Italian rubber company Marangoni and fashion house Conte of Florence, the Giulietta G430 iMove is based on the Giuletta 1750 Quadrifoglio Verde and distinguished by special green tires riding on 19-inch Barracuda Karizzma alloys. But that’s only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the modifications carried out on the special Giulietta.

A Ragazzon stainless steel exhaust system boosts output up to 232 horsepower, while a Tarox braking system, KW suspension and custom aero kit also factor in to the program, along with a golf-themed leather, Alcantara and carbon fiber interior by Conte of Florence. There’s even a Segway scooter mounted in the back, and you can get all the details about the show car in the press release after the jump and view it in detail in the high-resolution image mega-gallery below.

Gallery: Alfa Romeo Giulietta G430 iMove Marangoni

[Source: Maragoni]

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Alfa Romeo Giulietta G430 iMove Marangoni debuts in Bologna originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alfa Romeo partners with Avatar‘s Federico Alliney on official artwork collection

Filed under: Etc., Alfa Romeo, Design/Style

Alfa Carabo artwork

Alfa Romeo artwork by Federico B. Alliney – Click above for image gallery

Describing an Alfa Romeo as a rolling work of art is easy enough. We’ve done it, you’ve likely done it, and everyone else has, too. Heck, the blokes over at Top Gear even tried to sell a Brera to an art museum on exactly that basis. Actually turning an Alfa into a work of art – you know, one you can hang on your wall – takes another kind of talent altogether.

That’s where Federico B. Alliney comes in. Alliney is the artist to whom James Cameron turned to render his vision of how the Avatar world should look. And say what you will about overgrown Smurfs romping through the Pocahontas storyline, the scenery and animation is really what made Avatar the blockbuster success it was. Now the artist has worked his magic on some of Alfa Romeo’s most beautiful creations for a series of factory-sanctioned paintings called “The Cross and the Snake” collection.

The seven works of art depict 100 years’ worth of picturesque Alfas – including the original 8C 2300, the otherworldly Disco Volante, Giulia, BAT 9, and Carabo concept – against such backdrops as the Venice waterfront, a retro gas station, a race track, Batman’s lair, and of course a surrealistic tropical jungle. Each is available in a limited reproduction series of 30 editions each. The cars and their settings are achingly beautiful, as you can see for yourself from the gallery below, with full details available in the press release after the jump and the website at this link.

Gallery: Alfa Romeo artwork by Federico B. Alliney

[Source: Alfa Romeo | Images: (C)Cultwork/Alfa Romeo]

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Alfa Romeo partners with Avatar‘s Federico Alliney on official artwork collection originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 17 Oct 2010 17:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Is the next Dodge Viper really just a reskinned Alfa 8C?

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Dodge, Alfa Romeo, Rumormill

Alfa 8C

Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione – Click above for high-res image gallery

Snakes are known to regularly shed their skin to reveal a shimmering new coat underneath. Doing it the other way around would be a unique trick, but if the latest reports are to be believed, that might be what we’re looking at.

Last week at a dealers’ conference, Fiat/Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne reportedly pulled the covers off a new-generation Dodge Viper. With the current model having already been axed, our interest was, to say the least, piqued by this development. New reports emanating from the exclusive preview have given us cause for a little more consternation, however.

According to AutoWeek, the new Viper – expected to arrive sometime late next year as a 2012 model – looked eerily like an Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione with a more Dodge-like front end. That would be a shame, since the Alfa’s styling is its biggest asset; its chassis and performance dynamics, less so. Giving the 8C – based, as it is, on age-old Maserati architecture – a new shell and calling it a Viper strikes us as all kinds of wrong. Then again, like a great many rumors in the autosphere, this could all be mere conjecture.

Gallery: Quick Spin: 2009 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

[Source: AutoWeek]

Is the next Dodge Viper really just a reskinned Alfa 8C? originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 19:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: VW wants to buy Alfa Romeo, Fiat unwilling to part

Filed under: Volkswagen, Earnings/Financials, Alfa Romeo, Fiat

According to Automotive News Europe, Volkswagen is keen on continuing its hungry, hungry hippo march through the automotive world. The report says that the German manufacturing giant has its eye on snapping up Alfa Romeo, even though parent-company Fiat has no intention of turning the brand loose.

The news comes courtesy of two unnamed, high-ranking VW officials who claim that the company has developed a serious taste for Italian as of late. Meanwhile, a similarly shadowy figure in the upper echelons of the Fiat kingdom says that Fiat won’t sell Alfa Romeo to the Germans.

While the two companies appear to be drawing lines in the sand, Fiat has said that it wants Alfa Romeo to become a world-class luxury manufacturer. That includes selling upwards of 500,000 units per year by 2014 – nearly five times what the company managed to move in 2009.

So why does VW want Alfa Romeo? Nabbing the brand would be an easy way to help the carmaker in its quest to take down Toyota as the world’s number one automaker. Dipping into the Alfa Romeo stable would also give VW access to a wealth of new front-engine, front-wheel-drive chassis options as well.

[Source: Automotive News Europe]

Report: VW wants to buy Alfa Romeo, Fiat unwilling to part originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monterey 2010: Pebble Beach honors Alfa Romeo on its 100th birthday

Filed under: Car Buying, Concept Cars, Motorsports, Classics, Misc. Auto Shows, Alfa Romeo

A Century of Alfa Romeos at the 2010 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance – Click above for our high-res image gallery

It might be hard to believe, but Alfa Romeo is a century old. Check that – A.L.F.A. (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, or Lombardy Car Manufacturing Company) is 100, having been established in 1910. That was the year that a group of Milanese enthusiasts decided they could build cars better than the stuff they were getting from foreign automakers. ALFA wasn’t very successful at first – at least not financially – but during World War I, the company was taken over by a young engineer, Nicola Romeo, and the rest, as they say, is history. 100 years later, we have some of the most incredible and memorable sports and racing cars of all time wearing the cross-and-serpent or the Quadrifoglio.

At the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday, the automaker received a warm welcome, with two dozen or so of their most significant models on hand for the festivities – many from the factory museum. Those 24 cars represented just a small sample of the sports and racing cars that made the company famous – everything from one of their first 1910 A.L.F.A. 24-hp Torpedo model, to the bio-mechanical 2010 Alfa Romeo Pandion Bertone Coupé.

It was a great gathering of incredible cars to honor this legendary automaker as it enters its second century, a century that will thankfully see its return to the United States market. It’s hard to say if today’s models will stand the test of time like the classics gathered at Pebble, but we think that the 8C Competizione will look sensational out there on the 18th fairway in 40 years, just like it does today.

Gallery: Alfa Romeo 100th Anniversary at Pebble Beach

1931 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Zagato Spider 1934 Alfa Romeo Tipo B P3 Aerodinamica 1931 Alfa Romeo Tipo A Grand Prix

Monterey 2010: Pebble Beach honors Alfa Romeo on its 100th birthday originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 14:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monterey 2010: Alfa Romeo centenary celebrated con brio

Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Alfa Romeo

2010 Concorso Italiano celebrates Alfa Romeo centenery – Click above for high-res image gallery

The year 2010 marks the 100th birthday of Alfa Romeo, the great Italian automaker that has given us some of the most lust-worthy road and race cars of, well, the last century. It was fitting, therefore, that Concorso Italiano celebrated the occasion with gusto. They even let the Alfas spell out the annual message to the heavens: a simple “100.” It would have been interesting to see them try to use 100 cars to do so; goodness knows there were at least that many Alfas on hand.

Check out the gallery and you’ll see a small sampling of the great variety of Alfas on display. As much as we like the new 8C Competizione, we have to say our favorite Alfa Romeo at Concorso was probably John Shirley’s 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B. Just take a look at that rear!

Gallery: Monterey 2010: Alfa Romeo 100th birthday at Concorso Italiano

Alfa Romeo 100th birthday at Concorso Italiano

Monterey 2010: Alfa Romeo centenary celebrated con brio originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 14 Aug 2010 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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