1991 Alfa Romeo 164 L on 2040-cars

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B.A.T. Alfa Trinity, some of the world's most famous concept cars, are up for auction

Of the cars that never saw production, there are a handful that nevertheless have had an outsized influence. Among the most famous are the wild Berlinetta Aerodynamica Technica (B.A.T.) concepts commissioned by Alfa Romeo in the mid-1950s. Three B.A.T. Alfas were created by Italy's Bertone design house and were unveiled at succeeding Turin auto shows in 1953, '54, and '55. The cars are now coming up for auction for the first time as a group at RM Sotheby's Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York on October 28. The first of the trio was B.A.T. 5, which like its successors was built on the Alfa 1900 Sprint production chassis. The goal of the B.A.T. 5 was aerodynamic efficiency, and the car boasted a cD of 0.23. Aiding the cause were covered front wheels, a greenhouse with steeply curved side glass, and twin tail fins. The second concept was B.A.T. 7, from 1954. It has the wildest styling of the trio, with sharply curved tail fins. It also has the lowest drag coefficient, at 0.19. B.A.T. 9, from 1955, was the most production-feasible of the group. It features an Alfa Romeo shield grille at the front and exposed headlights with clear covers. All three are credited to Franco Scaglione, working with Nuccio Bertone. They were seen together for the first time at the 1989 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. They would appear together again at Pebble Beach in 2005 and at Bertone's 80th-anniversary celebration in 1992. The cars were acquired by a single owner sometime after their first Pebble Beach appearance. The ability to acquire all three at once is part of what makes this an extraordinary opportunity. The B.A.T. Alfas are being sold as a single lot and are expected to bring between $14 million and $20 million.

Dodge Hornet supposedly snapped inside Alfa Romeo Tonale factory

It appears that someone in Stellantis' Pomigliano d’Arco Assembly Plant in Italy couldn't keep their cellphone to themselves. Video uploaded to the Alfa Romeo Club Italia Facebook page, then quickly removed, purports to show Dodge's brand-engineered version of the Alfa Romeo Tonale in the same factory where the Alfa will be built. The Dodge is expected to be called the Hornet, and there are a few differences between it and and Alfa Romeo, which is understandable. But if the screenshots on Twitter are accurate, then the Dodge looks a lot closer to the Alfa Romeo than perhaps anyone expected. The front fascia and hood fall in line with Dodge's design language. The Alfa grille is replaced by a narrow, stepped upper grille, and the hood is one of the vented units similar to those available for Dodge's R/T performance trims. And as Mopar Insiders noticed, the silhouette of this car's front end matches a vehicle silhouette Dodge showed during Stellantis' 2021 EV Day.   Inside, the Italian brand's crest in the steering wheel center cap is replaced by Dodge's twin slashes, and the steering wheel has been stripped of the large, curved paddle shifters the Tonale showed on its debut. There's still a start/stop button on the steering wheel, but where the Tonale has a driving mode dial on its dash, this supposed Hornet has another start/stop button. Dodge's push-to-start buttons are usually on the instrument panel, so our guess is that the wheel is a holdover for testing. On the center tunnel, the parking alert buttons and Italian Tricolore flag on the Alfa Romeo are replaced by three different buttons.   We've known Dodge has two electrified vehicles on the way, and the Hornet name has been low-key buzzing for two years. Fiat Chrysler applied to trademark the name in the U.S. in March 2020; at the time, it was thought a vehicle with that name could replace the Journey. In 2021, a July rumor out of Italy was the first whisper of the Hornet name being attached to the Alfa Romeo Tonale. In August, when Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said Dodge would get a PHEV in 2024, watchers pegged that model as the Hornet. That hybrid powertrain would show a year after the vehicle's launch, the Hornet anticipated as a 2023 model with the Tonale's turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder. That engine could get the same 256 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque as the Tonale, or be boosted to satisfy Dodge's performance credentials.

Fiat set to invest $12B on new models, stop Euro losses in 3 years

Naturally, you'd expect a massive automaker like Fiat to have an in-depth plan to exit the current European-market doldrums, and you'd expect that plan to include plenty of new vehicles to attract those precious buyers that still remain despite the financial downturn. And you'd be right, though Fiat does seem to have a few unexpected twists up its corporate sleeve.
Perhaps the biggest shocker is a report that Fiat will completely drop the Punto, a car with mass-market appeal aimed at small-car buyers cross-shopping the popular Volkswagen Polo. Its replacement will be a five-door Fiat 500 aimed at upmarket buyers (sounds awfully similar to the 500L) that will be built in Poland. Lower-end customers will reportedly be served by variants of the Fiat Panda.
Borrowing a page from the BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen playbook, reports Automotive News, Fiat is said to have plans to reignite production at its Italian factories by retooling them to build high-end vehicles from Maserati and Alfa Romeo. These will be marketed as premium products, built by skilled Italian workers (who are paid wages that are 75-percent higher than those building Fiats in Poland), and will be sold around the world.