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Maserati honors Juan Manuel Fangio with F Tributo special editions

Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio was one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. Logging a record five F1 championships between 1951-57, four of them back-to-back, Fangio was the winningest driver in F1 history until Michael Schumacher won his sixth championship in 2003, almost half a century later. Maserati is now paying homage to Fangio with two special edition vehicles.  The Ghibli and Levante F Tributo commemorate Fangio's F1 victories behind the wheel of a Maserati 250F in the 1957 season. Fangio had previously won the world championship for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Mercedes-Benz, though in 1954 he won the driver's championship while driving for both Maserati and Mercedes. The "F" stands for Fangio, and "Tributo" means "tribute" in Italian. Though Maserati does not appear to have increased performance figures for the F Tributo duo, they do come in two exclusive paint jobs. Rosso Tributo is a vibrant red inspired by the crimson hue that represented Italy in the era when race car liveries were determined by country of origin. The second color, Azzurro Tributo, is a blue that represents, along with yellow, the flag of Modena, Maserati's home. Both cars also feature yellow brake calipers and a yellow outline on their 21-inch wheels, a callback to the yellow stripe on the nose of Fangio's 250F. The yellow cues continue on the inside, where giallo contrast stitching brightens up the black leather interiors. The Ghibli and Levante are also denoted by black "F Tributo" badges on the front fenders, as well as body-colored Maserati trident logos on the C-pillars. We're not totally convinced that a luxury sedan and crossover would be the type of car Fangio would love to drive, but if this is your bag you should act quickly. Maserati hasn't said how many F Tributo cars they plan to sell, only stating that numbers will be "very limited". 

Everything we know about the Alfa Romeo Stelvio

Alfa Romeo is working rapidly on putting a crossover onto the road and these latest awkwardly-shaped spy shots are our best look at the upcoming Stelvio. Crossovers and compact SUVs are still outrageously popular with Americans and Alfa Romeo wants in on the ever-growing segment. The upcoming Stelvio, then, would make Alfa more profitable and make the storied brand once again a household name. Here's an overview of everything we know about the Stelvio. October 24, 2016: A moderately-camouflaged Stelvio is spotted testing in broad daylight with minimal updates. The most recent prototype has three strangely-shaped ridges on the hood, while the headlights and taillights, despite being taped off, still appear to be taken straight from the Giulia sedan. The profile mimics that of the Porsche Macan with the bulbous rear end gaining massive exhaust tips. View 12 Photos October 11, 2016: Photographers captured a lightly-camouflaged Stelvio testing in Europe at night, giving us our best look at the SUV's design. The front of the vehicle shares the same front fascia design as the Giulia sedan with two oval-shaped inlets on the side and the automaker's iconic rounded-triangle grille. The headlights also appear to be the same slit-like units on the Giulia, as well. The side profile of the SUV portrays a rounder design than displayed on previous prototypes that photographers have spotted. At the rear, two small tail pipes protrude out of the vehicle, while the taillights appear to be similar to the Giulia's, too. Unsurprisingly, the Stelvio looks comparable to a Giulia on stilts. View 7 Photos June 28, 2016: A prototype of the Stelvio is spotted wearing a massive amount of camouflage, making the shape and overall design of the SUV hard to discern. Again, the automaker's well-known front end is easy to spot, as are the two large exhaust outlets at the back. The rear end, though, features an interesting, rakish design that is more in line with a Sportback than a SUV. Photographers also managed to get pictures of the SUV's interior, which featured birch-like wood, an integrated screen, and large paddle shifters behind the thick steering wheel. Just like on the Giulia, the start-stop button is mounted directly onto the steering wheel. View 10 Photos April 7, 2016: The Alfa Romeo Stelvio is spotted testing for the first time. Alfa Romeo was caught testing a heavily-camouflaged prototype of the Stelvio wearing an insane amount of unsightly black plastic.

CAR adds details to Alfa Romeo's five-year plan

Much of this month's issue of CAR Magazine is devoted to Alfa Romeo and what we can expect from it in the next five years. Of course, they unfortunately went to print before FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne died (and it took a while for it to land in my mail box), so certain elements are bound to change in light of new leadership. Nevertheless, there are plenty of interesting tidbits to chew on. First, there are a few more details regarding the Alfa Romeo 8C super car, which was confirmed during FCA's recent five-year plan announcement. Unlike the last front-engined, rear-drive 8C, the new one would be mid-engined with the rear wheels powered by a version of the Quadrofoglio turbo V6 brought up to the 600-horsepower range, and some amount of electrification added to the front axle. CAR indicates a total output of around 800 hp and 660 pound-feet of torque. A carbon fiber monococque would help keep the weight down, and to keep cost down, reporter Georg Kacher posits its production will be farmed out to a third party like Dallara. Both pricing and performance will be interesting with the 8C: how much does FCA want Alfa Romeo to compete with Ferrari? Without Marchionne leading both, perhaps it won't matter. View 19 Photos Then again, how much it wants Alfa to compete with Maserati might, as the future Giulia-based GTV coupe could do just that. Apparently, the coupe and convertible range is intended to compete with the entire breadth of the German two-door catalogue, from 4 Series and M4, to C- and E-Class Coupes. Presumably it'll therefore be more than just a Giulia coupe. Regular, high-performance and plug-in hybrid versions are mentioned. Finally, as was part of the previously announced five-year plan, there will be SUVs introduced on either side of the Stelvio. Apparently, it was originally thought that the smaller of the two would be produced on the cheaper Renegade/500X platform, but that has been nixed in favor of the Giulia's "Giorgio" platform to maintain a higher degree of engineering sophistication. If so, good call. The bigger of the two new Alfa SUVs would also be on the platform, and since it's been rumored that the next Jeep Grand Cherokee will be as well, it'll be interesting to see how similar those two mid-size SUVs will potentially be. There are many more Alfa insights from CAR, but as it's restricted to print and not on their website, we can only urge you to swing by your local magazine rack and pick up the latest issue. They do good stuff.