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Alfa SUV on pace for 2016 launch

While other parts of FCA's five-year plan are reportedly being shifted around, the timeline for Alfa Romeo is holding firm. The Italian brand is now hard at work on its crossover, which arrives after the Giulia sedan. Everything is on schedule for a mid-2016 debut too, according to Automotive News, and US sales would reportedly come late that year or in early 2017. Codenamed Project 949, Alfa's crossover shares its underpinnings with the Giulia and is sized to take on premium entries in the segment, like the BMW X3, Automotive News reports. The model is the Italian brand's first production CUV. The plan for a crossover has been percolating for years, as evidenced by the 12--year-old Kamal concept (pictured above). The Giulia and CUV are two of the eight new models Alfa wants to launch by 2018. In the five-year plan, Alfa execs also discussed two compacts, another crossover, a second midsize sedan, a fullsize sedan, and a specialty product. While not all of these might come to the US, the brand has set a goal to see a dramatic global sales jump to 400,000 units. "We are taking a very hard look at the sequencing of the products that we are launching to make sure that we get the biggest bang for the buck from the utilization of the architecture in terms of volumes," FCA boss Sergio Marchionne said, according to Automotive News. Related Video:

Share price falls on skepticism of Chrysler-Fiat five-year plan

Following this week's Fiat Chrysler extravaganza, where the Italian-American manufacturer announced its plans for the next five years, the Autoblog staff was cautiously optimistic of the company's future. Investors? Not so much.
Fiat saw its shares tumble 12 percent in Wednesday's trading, falling from 8.67 euros ($12.06 at today's rates) to 7.44 euros ($10.35) as of this writing, with blame partly going to the Italian half of the FCA marriage, which recorded a pretty significant drop in profits during the first quarter of this year.
The plan, which will cost around $77 billion over the next several years, is facing criticism from investors thanks in part to a 1.4-percent drop in Fiat's first-quarter profits, to 622 million euros ($862 million). That figure is also short of Bloomberg analysts' projections, which predicted $1.18 billion in profits before taxes, interest and one-time items.

2022 VW GTI, Golf R and Ford's electric future | Autoblog Podcast #680

In this episode of the Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. They start off discussing their drives in the 2022 VW GTI and 2022 VW Golf R. They then discuss the news, which is jam-packed this week. The Mazda6 and CX-3 are going away, and Alfa is reportedly mulling a new GTV and Duetto. Plus, Ford teased an electric Bronco, confirmed a future electric Explorer and fully revealed the work truck version of the 2022 F-150 Lightning named the "Pro." They end by turning to the mailbag and responding to another listener's Spend My Money question. Autoblog Podcast #680 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2022 Volkswagen GTI 2022 Volkswagen Golf R News Mazda6 and Mazda CX-3 officially discontinued for 2022 Alfa Romeo's new CEO sees room to bring back the GTV and the Duetto Electric Ford Bronco could be coming, electric Explorer is confirmed F-150 Lightning Pro revealed as Ford's sub-$40K electric work truck Opinion We need to legalize adaptive driving beams already, for safety's sake Mailbag Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Autoblog is now live on your smart speakers and voice assistants with the audio Autoblog Daily Digest. Say “Hey Google, play the news from Autoblog” or "Alexa, open Autoblog" to get your favorite car website in audio form every day. A narrator will take you through the biggest stories or break down one of our comprehensive test drives. Related Video: Podcasts Alfa Romeo Ford Mazda Porsche Volkswagen Hatchback Performance