2018 Alfa Romeo Giulia on 2040-cars

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Lightly-camouflaged Alfa Romeo Stelvio snapped testing

With the Alfa Romeo Stelvio's expected reveal date at the Los Angeles Auto Show quickly approaching, we're not surprised to see prototypes testing in broad daylight with less and less camouflage. But even these latest spy shots make it difficult to determine details about the upcoming SUV. Just like before the headlights are disguised by heavy tape, but appear to be nearly identical to the ones found on the Giulia sedan. There's also a small v-shaped grille at the front with two rectangular ones on the bottom of the front fascia. The hood has three oddly-shaped ridges, but those are probably more camo to disguise actual creases. Previous SUVs were spotted with much smaller ruffles on the hood. The overall profile of the prototype remains the same as the ones we've spotted earlier with a design that mimics the Porsche Macan. The bulbous rear end of the SUV hasn't changed much either. The familiar taillights are still taped off, but appear to be taken straight from the Giulia. The massive exhaust tips, though, are new and would be more at home on a sports car. With the Stelvio expected to get the same gasoline and diesel powertrains as the Giulia, the weapon-sized exhaust tips on the prototype hint towards the possibility of the SUV getting the 2.9-liter V6 from the Giulia Quadrifoglio. Related Video: Featured Gallery Alfa Romeo Stelvio Exterior Spy Shots View 12 Photos Image Credit: CarPix Design/Style Spy Photos Alfa Romeo Crossover SUV alfa romeo giulia alfa romeo stelvio

6 luxury car brands to watch in 2024

2023 was a healthy year for the auto industry, and even with incentives returning and dealer lots filling up, there's plenty to like about the market if you build luxury automobiles, and we expect 2024 to be more of the same, which makes luxury-segment rivalries all the more interesting. Top luxury car brand rivalries? Well, that sounds downright uncivilized. But we know better, don't we? And when every quarterly sales update is an opportunity to remind somebody else that they bought the wrong status symbol, well, who can resist? Certainly not the diehard customers who fly their favorite brands' banners high.  Read more: Auto sales: Industry records best year since 2019 Read more: 2023 auto sales and 2024 preview: Ford Bronco vs. Jeep Wrangler This is a tricky segment to define, but essentially, we're looking at luxury car brands with depth to their portfolios and dealerships that exist to attract real-world customers. The Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and McLarens of the world are luxury cars, certainly, but we're more concerned with brands that have a bit more mass appeal — manufacturers who treat supply constraints as fiascos rather than features. If you disagree with our selections, feel free to let us know in the comments.  And since we're mostly concerned with finishing order, the luxury brands and totals featured here may change as new data come in throughout 2024. Due to the wild swings of the past several years, we're treating 2023 as the baseline by which we'll measure sales performance. And rather than rank brands vs. their finishing order in 2022, when supply-chain and inflationary issues still played havoc with sales figures, we're starting 2024 off with a clean slate.  The mainstream luxury segment is always a dogfight, but with their varied approaches to electrification all of the major luxury brands are in the midst of reshaping the premium landscape. Who is doing it right? Well, according to U.S. shoppers, the usual suspects are up to their old tricks.

FCA is setting a five-year strategy: Here's how the last one played out

We're slightly more than four years removed from Sergio Marchionne last five-year plan for FCA, a tell-all where the Italian-American automaker divulged its plans for the 2014 through 2018 model years. It was a grand affair, where Sergio told FCA investors that all was right in Auburn Hills, Alfa Romeo and Maserati were making comebacks, and the fifth-gen Dodge Viper received a mid-cycle refresh. You can read every last one of those past predictions right here. We're on our way to Europe to see Sergio's sequel, coming out Friday straight from FCA's Italian headquarters. (Bloomberg reports a plan to expand Jeep and Ram globally, combine Alfa Romeo and Maserati into a single division for an eventual spinoff, and downsizing Fiat and Chrysler. Also, EVs.) But before we arrive in Italy and find out exactly what Marchionne has planned for 2019 through 2023 as his last act as CEO, let's take a minute to tally up the results of his last term based on the same scoresheet we used in 2014. Now, we're only five months into 2018, so much of this — including vehicles like the Ram HD and Jeep Grand Wagoneer — could still debut this year. For those, we'll mark things TBD. We're not going to draw any conclusions or make any objectionable remarks. We're simply going to let the stats speak for themselves.