2023 Alfa Romeo Stelvio Estrema Awd on 2040-cars

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Alfa Romeo Milano revealed as brand's first full EV offering

Alfa Romeo has made it clear it's going to fully electric models over the next few years, and that seems to be starting with the newly revealed Milano. It's a subcompact SUV, and while it seems that it will be offered with an internal combustion engine (similar to its platform-mate, the Jeep Avenger), Alfa has only talked about the EV powertrains to start with. And at least one of them sounds quite entertaining. Styling-wise, there's no mistaking the Milano for anything but an Alfa. It's very curvy, and has the prominent inverted triangle grille that's the brand's signature. It adopts some boomerang-shaped headlights that blend into additional air inlets on either side of the grille. That inverted triangle grille can feature different patterns, such as the mesh with classic "Alfa Romeo" script shown on the blue example, or the zoomed-in Alfa shield pattern shown on the red one. The tail features a wide rear that attempts to ape the "kamm tail" of the Alfa Romeo TZ sports car. We're not sure how successful it is at that, but it still looks solid. The Milano is fairly small. It comes in at just over 164 inches long and 70 inches wide, or around the size of a Kia Soul. It's also about 2 inches shorter in length than a Jeep Renegade, but that also makes it about 4 inches longer than the diminutive Jeep Avenger.  The interior is pretty typical Alfa, too. The 10.25-inch instrument screen is housed in a double-barrel shroud, and the 10.25-inch infotainment screen is mounted a little lower and canted toward the driver in the center stack. Round air vents bookend the dashboard. Powertrain details aren't complete, but the basics are there. The standard versions will get a 156-horsepower single motor at the front, while the Veloce gets a 240-horsepower single front motor. Both get a 54-kWh battery pack. On the WLTP cycle, the 156-horsepower version gets 250 miles of range. That would undoubtedly be lower on the EPA cycle if the car were to be offered here. And while there's no number for the Veloce, you can also count on that being lower than the standard model. The Veloce doesn't just get more power, though. It sits an inch lower on 20-inch wheels, and it gets stiffer front and rear anti-roll bars. The front brakes are upgraded to four-piston calipers with larger 15-inch rotors. Capping everything off is a Torsen limited-slip differential. It sounds like an awful lot of fun (and also sounds a bit like the setup for the Fiat 600e Abarth).

Alfa Romeo considering Ferrari-developed engines for new product lineup

A report in Bloomberg adds more details to the plans for Alfa Romeo's fourth turnaround plan in Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's tenure, and this time Ferrari is apparently going to be part of the show. In December Automotive News Europe reported that a new Maserati-derived rear-drive architecture would be the centerpiece at Alfa Romeo, as well as coming Chrysler and Dodge products. At the time, ANE said the platform would support a new midsize sedan and wagon perhaps to be called Giulia, a fullsize sedan and a midsize crossover, with retail appearance of the product initiative commencing perhaps as soon as next year. It would be part of Fiat's $12.3-billion spend on new models and European recovery.
The Bloomberg report says that particulars haven't been finalized, but the plan is to have six new Alfas appear over the next five years, two of which would be SUVs. The futures of the Mito and Giulietta, two of the three cars Alfa currently sells and 99 percent of sales last year, aren't assured, meaning that the lineup in six years could be seven cars (including the 4C), six of which we haven't any definitive clue of yet. The top-tier versions of those cars, according to the report - perhaps the Quadrifoglio Verde - "will be equipped with motors developed by Ferrari."
Marchionne wants to get sales up to 300,000 units per year when the lineup is complete, pairing Alfa sales with Jeep's global dealer network to open up the retail channel. That kind of volume would get Fiat's Italian plants back in business properly, even though Marchionne's stance on Italy-only Alfa production would mean the end of the anticipated roadster that was to be twinned with the coming Mazda MX-5 Miata. Alfa's direction will be laid out in Detroit in May as part of the overall strategy presentation for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV.

Sergio rethinks FCA-GM merger idea, dismisses critics

After many public overtures, Fiat Chrysler Automotive CEO Sergio Marchionne has claimed his company won't be making a hostile takeover bid for General Motors. This is despite widespread speculation that FCA's desire to merge was motivated by its allegedly dire situation. As one unnamed GM exec who spoke to Automotive News earlier this year put it, "Why should [GM] bail out FCA?" "We are not choking. We are in relatively decent shape," Marchionne told journalists attending an FCA shareholder meeting in Amsterdam, AN reports. "We have been publicly rebuffed, we have been rejected and you cannot force these things. I don't want to. At the moment, we have no intention to do anything hostile." Instead of focusing on merging with GM, or any other partners for that matter, FCA will refocus on implementing its ambitious five-year investment plan, which would see it dump $52 billion into its various brands, with a particular focus on Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and Jeep. So far the attempt has largely been unsuccessful, especially as it relates to the Italian brands. Earlier this week, additional reports emerged that claimed Alfa was pushing back the Giulia and an unnamed CUV while reassigning resources to updated versions of the Giulietta and MiTo hatchbacks. This is not the first time we've heard about trouble for the Giulia, of course. For Masearti, though, it was the first we'd heard of delays for Alfieri sports car, which allegedly won't appear in 2016, as promised. We can expect a proper breakdown of FCA's adjusted plans when Marchionne and Company reveal an updated product slate next month. Related Video: The video meant to be presented here is no longer available. Sorry for the inconvenience. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Paul Sancya / AP Alfa Romeo Chrysler Fiat GM Jeep Maserati Sergio Marchionne FCA