Autoblog

As Alfa Romeo prepares to launch its next all-new model, dubbed the 149, test mules have been spotted, details have come into focus and speculations have been rendered.

The five-door hatchback will join the MiTo in replacing the aging 147. Sources suggest that the 149 moniker could be dropped before the car is unveiled next year, only a few telling months after the Volkswagen Golf VI is due for its debut. Borrowing styling cues from the 8C Competizione and MiTo, the Alfa 149 is expected it to include a new three-arm rear suspension and Alfa's trick Q2 differential, with the eventual availability of Q4 all-wheel-drive remaining a question mark. Diesel and gasoline engines are anticipated to range between 120 and 250 horsepower, and the 149 is tipped to be complying with the upcoming six-star EuroNCAP safety rating, and more tellingly, new U.S. crash requirements as well.

Some still maintain that the Alfa hatch will be based on the same platform that underpins the Fiat Bravo and Lancia Delta, although Alfa representatives have asserted that the 149 will spearhead its own unique platform. Either way, the platform could underpin the replacement for the 159 sedan and wagon, as well as the replacements for the Brera and Spider, while Alfa executives continue to deliberate over the possibility of a crossover model as well.

[Sources: Autocar and Projetto 940]

Click to view the Alfa 159 in hi-res from Geneva '08

The Alfa Romeo 159 may be one of the most beautiful sedans on the market, but that hasn't been enough to make the model a sales success. As we learned after driving the new MiTo, Alfa isn't satisfied any longer to glide by on its name and looks alone, and so has started work on the replacement for the 159 even though the current model was only introduced in 2005.

The main reason attributed to the 159's poor market performance has been its dynamic performance, inhibited by an overweight chassis designed by Saab during Fiat's partnership with GM. Its successor is tipped to be based on the same platform as the upcoming 149, however, which still means front-wheel-drive. With the numeric designation running out of room to grow, the 159 replacement is widely reported to revive the classic Giulia nameplate, with styling cues borrowed from the curvaceous 8C instead of the angular Brera. Sources suggest that the new sedan, anticipated for debut in 2010, is being developed specifically with the American market in mind.

Photos Copyright ©2008 Noah Joseph / Weblogs, Inc.

[Source: Autocar]

Click above for a high-res gallery of our time in the Alfa Romeo driving school.

Let's take a quick vote here. We won't be tabulating the totals, so we'll keep this unofficial, but we want you to be honest. How many of you, deep inside, wonder if you couldn't have made it as a professional racing driver? Maybe not the next Michael Schumacher, but at least a promising prospect. If only you had started out in karting at a young enough age, kept yourself in shape and found the sponsorship to fund what could have been a budding career. You look at the racing line around the corners of city streets on your commute, view a twisting mountain road as a challenge instead of an inconvenience, and offer friends unsolicited (and seldom appreciated) advice on their driving habits.

Starting to sound familiar? It did to us, but that was before Alfa Romeo invited us to take part in its Guida Sicura advanced driving program at the Varano circuit in northern Italy. While we may have gone in with delusions of tire-smoking grandeur before we arrived, they were all completely deflated after our first couple of laps around the track with a former rally champion or Ferrari factory driver riding shotgun helpfully putting us in our place. But by the end of the day those baseless fantasies were replaced by a marked improvement in our driving competence. Read on to see how the day unfolded.

Photos Copyright ©2008 Noah Joseph / Weblogs, Inc.

Click for a hi-res gallery of Alfa Romeo Kyalami Day

The Alfisti in South Africa turned out in droves for Alfa Romeo Kyalami Day, setting a new world record for the most Alfas on the track at once. The record – which mirrors the one set by Ferrari at Silverstone last year – required 200 vehicles, but the organizers got no fewer than 240 Alfas to hit the Kyalami circuit (former host of the South African Grand Prix) at once. Nearly 7000 visitors (excluding staff) were in attendance, while the parking lots filled up with over 2300 cars.

The day also marked the first occasion, believe it or not, when the new 8C Spider was shown in public since its unveiling back in March at the Geneva show. Unfortunately, that's likely to also be the last time the 8C Spider is in the country, as the 500 examples being produced won't be offered there. However, Fiat Auto South Africa – the country's Alfa Romeo importer – also brought out the full array of current models, along with a display of 18 classic Alfas, including one driven by JFK. Check out the images in the gallery below and the press release after the jump for more.

[Source: Alfa Romeo]

Click for hi-res gallery of the Alfa 8C Competizione

When Alfa Romeo announced it was actually building the 8C Competizione, we had but to applaud. The automaker slashed its own marketing budget to finance the car's manufacturing, justifying that the halo supercar would do more for the brand's image than any television ad ever could. (Then they did it again with the Spider version.) Right they were, and we wish more automakers would think that way. The latest reports indicate that Alfa Romeo is following its own example, so while CEO Luca de Meo campaigns within the Fiat hierarchy for an even more hard-core version to wear the vaunted GTA badge, some of his subordinates are thinking a step ahead towards the 8C's successor.

The current 8C is based on an aging Maserati platform – not unlike the resuscitating Aston Martin DB7 that was based on old Jaguar underpinnings. However, strategists within Alfa Romeo want to see its successor based on the new Ferrari California, trading in the input of one sister company for another. While they realize it will be an uphill battle – one which could come down to Fiat chairman and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemelo's decision – to get Ferrari to agree to the proposal, Alfa Romeo is reportedly keen to get the project off the ground and get the second-generation sportscar ready within the next two years to celebrate Alfa's centennial in 2010.

[Source: Autocar]

Click to view the '61 Alfa Giulietta in our hi-res gallery

Everyone has their own idea of heaven on earth: the first snowfall, a cold beer on a hot day, a pristine azure beach... Cruising around town on a beautiful summer day in a classic Italian roadster may just be ours.

There's just something, what the French call a certain je ne sais quoi, an indefinable quality about a vintage Alfa – found somewhere in between the exhaust note and the chrome details – that has a unique capacity to make driver and passenger forget about everything else and just enjoy the drive. Don't get us wrong, we're big fans of progress. But after spending a few hours with this beautiful 1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, we're gaining a new appreciation for the phrase "they don't build 'em like they used to". Follow the jump to read why.

Photos Copyright ©2008 Noah Joseph / Weblogs, Inc.

Click above for high-res gallery of the Alfa Brera S

We didn't need another reason to want an Alfa Romeo Brera, nor another excuse to ogle its breathtaking lines. But then Prodrive comes along, with all its racing and rallying know-how, and gave us the Brera S. The toughened-up version addresses some of the gorgeous coupe's performance shortfalls and makes us cry "it's not fair", because it isn't. A car so beautiful and now, thanks to David Richards and Company, so dynamically improved, should be ours, but unfortunately a little puddle called the Atlantic Ocean keeps that dream from becoming reality. So we'll just have to wait until Alfa Romeo finally makes the voyage Stateside, by which time the limited-edition Brera S will undoubtedly be all gone, and with good reason. We'll just have to console ourselves with this new batch of achingly gorgeous images, which we're glad to share with you in the gallery below.

Click on the image to enlarge and see more high-res shots of the Alfa Spider

Alfa Romeo undoubtedly offers some of the most beautiful cars available. While we're anxiously awaiting the storied Italian brand's return to the U.S. market, those in Europe get some added reason to place the aging Spider on their shopping lists. The new Limited Edition model comes equipped with heated seats swathed in Italian Frau® leather upholstery and Alfa's Blue&Me™ (no, we're not making these names up) voice recognition hands-free system. Available in four color combo's and equipped with pretty 19-inch alloys, nobody is likely to kick the LE out of their garages. No power increase is present, but considering that at £25,500, all of this added goodness comes at no extra cost, we don't expect to hear too much complaining. Besides, this car is really meant to be seen in, so the zip-to-sixty sprint of just under nine seconds is likely good enough anyway.


[Source: Alfa Romeo]

The Italians are coming, the Italians are coming! And when they get here in the guise of Alfa Romeo, they will be looking for a factory where the 8C and other cars wearing the cross and serpent can be built. Alfa is looking at two options regarding a U.S.-based factory: buy one of GM, Ford, or Chrysler's closed factories, or expand a Case New Holland factory.

Case New Holland, which is actually owned by Alfa, makes agricultural machinery and construction equipment. It already has 11 plants in the U.S., and Alfa could simply expand one of them to make cars. The plant, a location for which will be selected in May, will begin churning out Alfas in 2011 or 2012. At capacity, production is expected to be around 150,000 cars for the North American and European markets. Alfa Romeo will decide on the distribution network and particular vehicles to be made within three months, which makes it sound as if the Italians are definitely coming.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req'd]

The weak dollar is driving yet another automaker to the States. On the heels of the announcement earlier this month that BMW will increase production in the U.S, Fiat is considering moving production of both Alfa Romeo cars, and Iveco trucks, to manufacturing plants on our shores. We first broke the news in December, but now it appears Fiat is actively involved in talks with U.S. automakers to build partnerships and share manufacturing facilities with a goal of starting production by 2011 or 2012. This is positive news for consumers as Alfa prepares to once again enter the N.A. marketplace, and great news for the local economies who will benefit from additional jobs and tax revenue.

[Source: Reuters]