2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Sport Awd 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.

2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio vs. 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk: On-paper sibling rivalry

Pricing was revealed for the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, and with its $81,590 price tag, it's within range of yet another high-performance SUV from Fiat-Chrysler: the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. The Hellcat-powered Jeep is more expensive than the Stelvio at $86,995, but depending on options, the price advantage might go either way. This left us wondering, how similar are these two high-powered SUVs? Besides sharing the same number of words in their very-long names, we took a look at some of their performance specs and put them in the spreadsheet below. As always, if you want to compare either of these with other speedy SUVs, be sure to try out our comparison tools. As far as outright speed, both SUVs are surprisingly close. The Trackhawk is just a bit quicker in a straight line, hitting 60 mph in just 3.5 seconds as opposed to the Alfa's 3.9. The Jeep's 180-mph top speed is also 3-mph quicker than the Alfa. But neither of these differences is especially huge. What makes this interesting is how different the paths each SUV takes to get to its results. The Trackhawk accomplishes the task with pure grunt. It has Dodge's Hellcat supercharged 6.2-liter V8 making 707 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque to overcome its hefty 5,363-pound body. The Alfa, on the other hand, makes do with less power and torque, 505 and 443, respectively, from its twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6. It has less weight, though. Exactly how much less we're not sure, since Alfa hasn't revealed that number, but a regular Stelvio weighs right around 4,000 pounds, so we would guess the weight is similar, possibly a little more. View 14 Photos The differences in how each SUV achieves its performance should result in pretty different driving characteristics, and probably different buyers. Each SUV's bragging points also indicates this. The Trackhawk boasts an impressive 11.6-second claimed quarter-mile time, something that American muscle car fans everywhere care about. The Alfa brags about how it's the fastest production SUV to lap the Nurburgring, something sure to impress fans of foreign cars and those that value handling over straight-line performance. So really, although these two SUVs have performance similarities, they're also very different, and the right one for you depends on what you value. View 29 Photos Also, as an afterthought, we wonder if the guys that attempted a Viper record at the 'Ring would be up for trying to break the Alfa time with the Jeep.

Alfa Romeo recalls Giulia and Stelvio — cruise control can go haywire

DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler is recalling more than 60,000 cars and SUVs worldwide because they can keep going on cruise control or accelerate even after a driver taps the brakes. The recall covers certain Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio models from 2017 through 2019. The company says a software error caused the problem, and it's advising people not to use the adaptive cruise control until it's repaired. The feature keeps moving vehicles a set distance from the cars in front of them. Fiat Chrysler says it's not aware of any crashes or injuries from the problem. Adaptive cruise control can still be turned off by stepping on the brakes for a longer time. Owners will be notified next month when they can schedule an update to the brake system software.