2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce on 2040-cars

Auto blog

The new Alfa Romeo Giulia needs to be a BMW beater

The introduction of the Alfa Romeo Giulia as a BMW challenger is a claim that historically has meant that it will not be as good as a BMW. Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, Infiniti, Cadillac, and a few others have tried to loosen BMW's grip on the sports sedan market with little success. It was BMW that was doing the copying when in the early sixties they looked to Alfa Romeo's sport sedans for inspiration. Alfa Romeo's pre-war racing pedigree was second to none, and series production Alfas were sporting twin cam engines, and fuel injection years before BMW. What the post-war Alfa cars did not offer was reliability and an North American dealer network that knew how to service or sell their products. Consequently in 1995 Alfa abandoned the US market. Now it is the Alfa Giulia taking aim at the BMW 3-series. The Fiat/Chrysler group has a lot of resources (think Ferrari), and the engineering chops to beat BMW at its own game, but it will take a long time to build a reliable dealer network, not to mention the quality issues that have dogged them for decades. Alfa will follow what has become a familiar recipe to challenge the 3-series. With 3 sets of trim available, the most affordable model, the Giulia, and further upscale, Giulia ti, both with a turbocharged 4-banger and 276 HP compares favorably with the BMW 328i and the Audi A4. The 505 HP Giulia flagship is shooting for the M4/3. Good luck with that, Alfa. A delayed introduction hints of troubles to come. Unfortunately for Alfa both the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series have millions of dedicated fans, most of whom do not have to be reminded about their automobile's pedigree. Millennial have never had the chance to aspire for an Alfa, and the older generations that still remember them are only a very small share of the market. Alfa has to avoid joining the automotive graveyard of models that have tried to attain BMW's status. Just to be cruel I will mention the Cadillac Cimarron. If you are too young to remember, it was the cheapest Chevy front wheel drive platform with a Cadillac badge. Panned by both GM management and the automotive press, it was a spectacular flop. I hope that the executives of the Fiat/Chrysler group remember it well. We do not need a Fiat in a stylish suit.

Upcoming Alfa Romeo CUV called the Stelvio, Marchionne says

Alfa Romeo will call its forthcoming crossover the Stelvio, and the Italian brand will finally put the often-postponed CUV on sale in Europe in early 2017, according to Auto Express citing FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne. We probably won't see it in showrooms here until at least spring or summer next year. The vehicle's name references the famously curvy pass through the Alps in Northern Italy, which evokes a model with sharp handling and rapid acceleration. The Stelvio uses a modified Giulia platform, and the two models should share powertrains. Standard versions would likely get a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, which makes 276 horsepower in the sedan. However, the common parts make a Quadrifoglio version of the CUV possible, packing the hottest Giulia's 505-hp 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6, according to Auto Express. Alfa Romeo hasn't teased the Stelvio's design yet, but FCA designer Ralph Gilles posted a photo on Instagram that might have been a hint. The picture showed fellow designer of Lorenzo Ramaciotti in the back of an unnamed crossover. The dashboard, which you could see in that shot, had a distinct similarity to the Giulia. The shot didn't show much of the exterior, but you could barely make out the narrow taillights. Alfa Romeo has had serious problems launching vehicles on time recently, and the Giulia sedan and Stelvio should have been ready by now. The four-door was originally supposed to arrive in late 2015, but Marchionne said assembly would finally begin on March 14, according to Auto Express. The sedan has allegedly had problems passing internal crash tests, but Alfa officials vehemently denied this claim. The brand also delayed the CUV by several months from the original plans. The automaker now asserts that six more models are on the way by 2020, but the company doesn't seem capable of living up to those promises. Related Video:

Alfa Romeo Stelvio refresh spied sporting the smallest of changes

Alfa Romeo has a refresh coming down the pipeline for the Stelvio crossover soon, and our spy photographer just caught it testing out in the wild. The white Stelvio in partial camouflage seen here isn’t hiding a whole lot, though. From what we can tell, nothing much has changed on the outside compared to the car we can buy now. Swirly wrappings cover both the front bumper and lower rear fascia. Despite us not being able to discern any differences between this one and the 2019 Stelvio, the camouflage could be hiding some minor tweaks. Or perhaps the changes arenÂ’t present in this test car, and itÂ’s being used as a powertrain mule of sorts. There are rumors that Alfa will add some form of electrification to the Stelvio in this lifecycle. Whether thatÂ’s a 48-volt mild-hybrid system or something as involved as a plug-in hybrid, we canÂ’t know for sure yet. The interior does reveal a couple of the smallest changes. Alfa isnÂ’t giving it a whole new look, but a couple things get moved around or reshaped. The electronic parking brake has moved up to an easier-to-reach position next to the shifter. ThereÂ’s some sort of module to the right of the shifter that looks like itÂ’s missing something — that module is not present in the current car. Then, Alfa reshaped the center armrest. Hopefully that means thereÂ’s a little bit more utility in store for the center console and armrest area. Like we said, thereÂ’s nothing revolutionary here. As the Stelvio was introduced as a 2018 model year crossover here, we donÂ’t expect the refresh to be hitting us until the 2021 model year at the earliest. If Alfa feels like moving things along, there could be a reveal for the mid-cycle refresh next year sometime.