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Alfa Romeo is bringing something deliciously loud to Geneva

Alfa Romeo will risk running afoul of Switzerland's engine noise regulations by bringing something deliciously loud to the 2020 Geneva Motor Show. The preview video it posted on Twitter asks more questions than it answers. The seven-second flick announces that Alfa Romeo, one of Italy's oldest automakers, is about to make "a momentous comeback." It displays the company's logo, notes the location of its booth in the Palexpo convention center, and ends on the sound of what we're pretty sure is a V6 engine exploring the upper echelons of its rev range. There's no mention of which car the six-cylinder is in, let alone whether it's new or updated. sound on See you at #GIMSSWISS. #AlfaRomeo pic.twitter.com/yIUPYEiTkj — Alfa_Romeo (@alfa_romeo) February 22, 2020 This is where facts end and speculation begins. Alfa planned to expand its range with a two-door version of the Giulia that would have resurrected the GTV name and a flagship sports car tentatively called 8C, but both models were allegedly canceled in 2019. The 4C is nearing the end of life cycle, so the odds of seeing a new variant of it are low. Besides, its engine bay is far too small to house a six-cylinder engine like the Giulia's 2.9-liter unit. Before the teaser video emerged, we expected Alfa's next new model would be the production version of the Tonale concept unveiled at the 2019 edition of the Geneva show. The crossover is well on its way to production, and its front end has changed quite a bit in the past 12 months, but we don't think it will reach showrooms with a race car-like exhaust note; electrified technology will likely make it one of the quieter members of the Alfa lineup. This leaves us with two credible possibilities. First, rumors of a more powerful Giulia positioned above the Quadrifoglio model have floated around the internet for years and they plainly refuse to die. It would likely wear the heritage-packed GTA nameplate and arrive as a more track-oriented sedan in the vein of Mercedes-AMG's Black Series cars. If that's the case, expect copious carbon fiber, a stripped-out interior, and a full body kit. Second, Alfa could simply kick off its 110th birthday celebrations in Geneva by showing a concept built to mark the occasion. We'll know for sure when the show opens its doors to the press on March 3. Related Video:     Geneva Motor Show Alfa Romeo Luxury Performance

Alfa Romeo 8C and GTV: Classic names revived as high-powered hybrids

BOLOCCO, Italy — There were grand plans for Alfa Romeo at FCA's last five-year plan. By 2018, we were supposed to get eight new products, including a new "specialty" vehicle. In reality, we've gotten the Giulia and Stelvio. At this year's follow-up, Alfa Romeo brand head Tim Kuniskis called the last plan ambitious, but he offered a new vision that was both more realistic and more far-reaching. Beyond doubling down on utility and electrified vehicles, by 2022 Alfa has plans to revive both the 8C and GTV names as high-performance hybrids. Since 2014, Alfa sales are up 160 percent, with an estimated 170,000 vehicles to be sold in 2018. The North American market counts for 16 percent of that, up from nothing back in 2013. Future products will focus on Alfa's current strengths: styling and performance. Look for new compact and full-size utility vehicles to slot on each side of the Stelvio. Plans for a larger sedan seemed to have been nixed, though a long-wheelbase version of the Giulia will make it to the ever-increasing Chinese market. The most exciting news obviously comes from the return of the 8C supercar and GTV sports car. We have few details, but what we do know looks promising. The 8C will use a carbon-fiber chassis with a mid-mounted twin-turbo V6. More than 700 horsepower will be sent to all four wheels thanks to an electrically-driven front axle. The car should hit 62 mph in fewer than 3 seconds. The GTV will be slightly more tame, though Alfa is promising more than 600 horsepower from its hybrid powertrain. The four-seater will also have all-wheel drive, torque vectoring and a 50/50 weight distribution. The brief teaser image shows a car that looks like a two-door Giulia, though it's unclear if we'll actually get a new coupe. Electrification, autonomy and connectivity are coming, too. Obviously, the 8C and GTV will get electrified powertrains, but look for each Alfa Romeo model to have some sort of electrification available. Look for six plug-in hybrids with all-electric ranges of more than 30 miles. Level 2 and 3 autonomous systems are coming, too. Related Video: Design/Style Earnings/Financials Green Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Coupe Crossover SUV Hybrid Luxury Performance Supercars FCA alfa romeo 8c

FCA inline-six rumored to be real, headed for Jeep Wagoneer

In September, Allpar reported that that clues being dropped at Fiat- Chrysler headquarters, in the carmaker's factories, and on engineer resumes pointed to the development of an inline six-cylinder engine. The site has just proclaimed the rumor is reality, writing that the straight-six, "turbocharged to meet or beat 5.7 Hemi power ratings, with a smoother torque curve, is on the way." The motor's first outing is expected to be either the next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee, debuting perhaps next year, or the Jeep Wagoneer, debuting in 2020 or 2021. "Tornado" is the purported codename for the power plant said to be just under three liters in displacement, expanding the family begun with the Global Medium Engine 2.0-liter turbo codenamed Hurricane. Engine bay constraints and a long use horizon mean engineers won't simply add two more cylinders to the GME, however. Allpar says the brief is to keep the Tornado GME-T6 — the alphanumeric for "turbocharged six" — no more than three inches longer than the Tigershark 2.4-liter four-cylinder. That means "major design changes" that could include a space-saving head, more closely spaced cylinders, and no cylinder liners. An FCA division called Comau could be called on for its "SmartSpray" plasma lining technology. Allpar muses that the standard version of the engine for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram could get a single twin-scroll turbocharger. Performance trims for Alfa Romeo and Maserati could get different heads and maybe twin turbos, an SRT version might also get both those tweaks. History shows that the Italian versions would make changes to the block, as well. Even so, the Tornado would be less expensive than any Ferrari-supplied V6. A straight-six would put FCA in company with current adopters BMW and Mercedes-Benz, future users like Jaguar, and perhaps Aston Martin. The engine would span the widest range of use cases in the U.S. carmaker's portfolio, though. Potential applications include being a base engine for Ram trucks, serving double duty as a base engine and 5.7-liter Hemi replacement for the Dodge Charger and Challenger, working in the high-end Jeeps, and as a properly hot trim — with Ferrari-designed heads — in the luxury Italian sports cars. The Alfa Romeo Giulia begs for just such motivation to fill the gap between the 280-hp, $42,695 Ti Sport RWD and the 505-hp, $73,700 Giulia Quadrifoglio RWD. And a twin-turbo inline-six in a Maserati Alfieri would stack up nicely with the Germans.