Sunnier skies ahead for Alfa Romeo?Claiming that Alfa Romeo’s “DNA had not been respected,” Fiat-Chrysler (FCA) is taking strong and swift action to rectify its sporty yet mainstream Italian brand problem. During a hugely long, 55-slide (!) presentation at its latest investor meeting, FCA outlined Alfa’s rich production- and racing-car histories before boldly admitting that Fiat’s 1987 takeover of Alfa Romeo unraveled a bit of that mojo.
*ON ITS OWN, SORT OF
*Citing the 1984 Nissan Pulsar–based Arna as a particular low point in its history, Alfa Romeo is refocusing its efforts on the five key attributes that previously defined the brand: advanced innovative engines, near-50/50 weight distribution, unique technical solutions, class-leading power-to-weight ratios, and groundbreaking and distinctly Italian design. Alfa has assembled a team of approximately 200 hand-selected engineers to spearhead the brand’s reinvention (a number which will grow to 600 by 2016). Operating with “no interference” from the FCA machine—presumably set up similar to the semi-autonomy enjoyed by Ferrari—the team is led by two senior heads from, well, Ferrari.
*ENGINES
*Operating in so-called “skunkworks” facilities, the team’s objectives include designing a new, flexible rear- and all-wheel-drive architecture (front-drive is dead for now) and unique solutions for gas and diesel engines; no specifics on those engines’ vehicle applications have been divulged. The gas engines—two four-cylinders and one six—will produce roughly 110–180 horsepower, 180–350 horsepower, and 400–525 horsepower. The four-cylinder and six-cylinder diesels will put out an estimated 110–200 horsepower and 250–365 horsepower. We like the sound of all those numbers.
*THE VEHICLES
*Alfa plans to dump front-drivers like the Guilietta and release eight new products by 2018. (Alfa currently sells just the Giulietta and MiTo; the wonderful 4C is just now coming online.) Included in the eight-car lineup are two compacts, one mid-size (with a high-performance mid-size variant), one full-size, two utilities, and a “specialty” model, which most likely is a sports car. It’s worth pointing out, of course, that that sports car, while likely a new Spider, will be different from the Spider that was being co-developed with Mazda’s next-gen MX-5 Miata; that Italian/Japanese mashup will become a new Abarth or Fiat model instead.
*BIG SALES GOALS
*While quadrupling its lineup in just four years is optimistic, arguably Alfa’s most ambitious announcement is that the brand is planning on pushing the its global sales numbers past the 400,000-unit mark by 2018. Putting that figure in perspective, Alfa Romeo sold just 74,000 vehicles in 2013. Surprisingly, Alfa says its engines and cars will be “industrialized in Italy,” which we take to mean the brand’s home country will produce the bulk of its vehicles and components. Of course, all of this brand transformation and DNA recapturing will take money, and lots of it. And so FCA will dump a colossal €5 billion into Alfa, or about $6.96 billion at current conversion rates.
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After a seemingly never-ending back and forth regarding Fiat-Chrysler’s Alfa Romeo plans—they’ll be in the U.S. in 2004! No, wait, 2013! No, 2015!—the attachment of hard figures, an admission of how badly Fiat mismanaged Alfa, and an influx of a lot of euros means this finally looks like the we’re-done-screwing-around plan. We agree with FCA that the smokin’ hot and awesomely sporty 4C coupe and Spider are great starts to turning Alfa around, but we also agree the brand desperately needs more than two carbon-fiber two-seaters. On the bright side, there’s no way Alfa will get to 400,000 sales without the U.S., so we finally can bet on the brand’s return to America.
Alfa ended its presentation with this loin-tickling tease: “A cloverleaf arriving in showrooms in late 2015.” Since Alfa’s not joining the highway-building industry as far as we know, that could only be code for “Quadrifoglio,” Alfa’s venerated performance sub-brand. We sort of feel like suckers, but we’re getting excited all over again.
For tons of additional product news from every Fiat-Chrysler brand, click here. Reported by Car and Driver 2 hours ago.