1967 Alfa Romeo Duetto 2l. Turbo on 2040-cars

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Alfa Romeo unveils Formula One car for new season

MONTMELO, Spain — Alfa Romeo has unveiled the new Formula One car that will be piloted by former champion Kimi Raikkonen this season. Raikkonen, teammate Antonio Giovinazzi and team principle Frederic Vasseur posed with the white-and-burgundy Alfa Romeo C38 in the pit lane of the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit before preseason testing started on Monday. Alfa Romeo is the rebranded name for the Sauber team this season. Raikkonen joined Alfa Romeo from Ferrari, where he won the Italian team's most recent drivers' title in 2007. The 39-year-old Finn is joined by Giovinazzi, a 25-year-old Italian with two Grand Prix races under his belt. Sauber finished eighth in the constructors' standings last year. More AP auto racing

Planned Alfa Romeo 8C and GTV don't appear to have a future anymore

The two Alfa Romeos we’ve been looking forward to most donÂ’t appear to have much of a future anymore, according to a report from Automobile. Both the 8C and GTV no longer exist on AlfaÂ’s product roadmap, and Mike Manley suggested they were canned, as well. “In the near term, the new portfolio for the brand is significantly scaled back with a corresponding reduction in capital spending,” Manley said, referring to Alfa Romeo in the companyÂ’s third-quarter earnings call. We've asked FCA if it can explicitly confirm anything on the 8C and GTV, but it offered no comment on the report. Additionally, FCAÂ’s presentation (uncovered by Motor1) of future Alfa Romeo vehicles left the 8C and GTV off the list. The only new cars planned for the future include a production version of the Tonale crossover and another unnamed crossover. FCAÂ’s presentation also states: “brand to focus on current market strengths with reduced global reach and overlap with other Group brands.” We all know that the strength of the market is in crossovers right now, so itÂ’s easy to infer what happens from there. Expensive, luxury sports cars are not where the scale and money is at for Alfa Romeo, a brand that isnÂ’t exactly thriving from a sales perspective today. Sales for both the Stelvio and Giulia are down in 2019 as those cars exit their honeymoon phase. Alfa is expected to have a midcycle refresh ready for consumption in 2021, so perhaps that could provide a temporary boost in sales for the Italian brand. FCA also said itÂ’s reducing planned capital spending on Alfa Romeo, which could hurt the brand even more in the future. This earnings call came the same day that the FCA-PSA merger was announced, throwing another wrench into the plan. WeÂ’re not yet sure what the merger will mean for Alfa Romeo and its presence in America, but we imagine more news on that will be coming as the companies transition to this new life together. The Giorgio platform appears to be safe for the time being, as Manley expressed his intentions to keep it around. This platform (underpinning both the Giulia and Stelvio) was developed with electrification of the powertrain in mind, so itÂ’ll be capable of handling a number of electrification efforts in FCAÂ’s future. We only wish the promising 8C and GTV wouldÂ’ve made it to production, but even Alfa appears to be thinning the herd of cars in favor of crossovers.

This modernized Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint looks great, sounds even better

No matter how good something may be, there's always room for improvement. A UK company called Alfaholics builds an overhauled version of the famous Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint that's supposed to be capable enough to hassle a modern Porsche 911 around the Nordschleife. It's difficult to spot any of the upgrades from the outside, but Charles Morgan shows off the updated performance in a new video from Carfection. The Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint is a memorable sports coupe that was made in the '60s and '70s, and it sports a gorgeous body from the pen of a then-17-year-old Giorgetto Giugiaro. Alfaholics takes this fantastic platform and adds modern suspension components, upgraded brakes, carbon fiber body panels, and a 240-horsepower engine. These tweaks bring the weight down to about 1,830 pounds and allow for a lap around the Nordschliefe in less than 8 minutes at the hands of a skilled driver. As opposed to just going for outright performance, Alfaholics tries to keep its tuned Giulia Sprint somewhat authentic to the original version. As Morgan shows in this video, the result of the company's work is a coupe with superb handling and an intoxicating exhaust note. Related Video: