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Alfa Romeo will be expanding its lineup beyond the Tonale

Last night, speaking with the press, Senior Vice President and Head of Alfa Romeo North America Larry Dominique gave us an idea of the Alfa lineup in the near future. The brand will be expanding its offerings, but not by too much. Alfa will eventually have five key models. It will have two offerings in the C-segment (Tonale-size), two offerings in the D-Segment (Giulia/Stelvio-size) and one in the E-segment (larger than Giulia/Stelvio). And as implied by our size clarification, we already know what most of those are, with the Tonale taking the C-segment SUV slot, and the Giulia and Stelvio for the D-segment. Dominique said the second C-segment vehicle would be something more car-like than the Tonale, though he wouldn't commit to saying it would specifically be a sedan. So it's possible it could be some kind of hatchback or maybe a coupe-like SUV. He was more vague about the E-segment vehicle. Considering the car market, some kind of SUV would seem most likely. As previously reported, this E-segment machine will arrive in 2027 with a wide range of electric powertrains from 300 to 1,000 horsepower. All of these new models will be fully electric. That includes the next-generation Giulia and Stelvio. The Tonale won't be going completely electric just yet, but it seems reasonable to assume a new generation model will be. Dominique noted that the Tonale, which is only offered with a plug-in hybrid in the U.S., is a good way to start introducing both dealers and customers to the idea of electrified Alfas. Apparently these five segments are the limit for Alfa for the time being. Dominique said that those models will cover more than 80% of premium buyers, and Alfa is trying to be "efficient" with how it covers the market. So don't expect the myriad bodystyles and niches from German brands such as BMW and Mercedes. There is one possible exception: a sports car. Dominique said that they're always interested in a sports car or halo product. He wouldn't commit in any way to such a product, though. With that being said, there's already been one teaser for something that might be just such a special sports car, maybe called 6C, a few weeks ago. We doubt that Alfa will launch a sports car that will stick around like the 4C, it will probably just be limited production cars that can be sold out quickly. Related video: A Night With Giulia

Fiat set to invest $12B on new models, stop Euro losses in 3 years

Naturally, you'd expect a massive automaker like Fiat to have an in-depth plan to exit the current European-market doldrums, and you'd expect that plan to include plenty of new vehicles to attract those precious buyers that still remain despite the financial downturn. And you'd be right, though Fiat does seem to have a few unexpected twists up its corporate sleeve.
Perhaps the biggest shocker is a report that Fiat will completely drop the Punto, a car with mass-market appeal aimed at small-car buyers cross-shopping the popular Volkswagen Polo. Its replacement will be a five-door Fiat 500 aimed at upmarket buyers (sounds awfully similar to the 500L) that will be built in Poland. Lower-end customers will reportedly be served by variants of the Fiat Panda.
Borrowing a page from the BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen playbook, reports Automotive News, Fiat is said to have plans to reignite production at its Italian factories by retooling them to build high-end vehicles from Maserati and Alfa Romeo. These will be marketed as premium products, built by skilled Italian workers (who are paid wages that are 75-percent higher than those building Fiats in Poland), and will be sold around the world.

Get lost in Evo's sublime 2013 Car of the Year testing

Every year Evo stages its Car of the Year test, bringing the best performance cars in the world to one location for an epic shootout. This year the magazine pitted eight CotY finalists against each other on Route Napoleon in Southern France - Evo claims it's the "best road in the world" - and then proceeded to nitpick the smallest of faults on each car until the winner could be named. You see, this year's lineup of machines was just so good that only one car obviously wasn't CotY material from the get-go. Can you guess which one judging from the list below?
- Aston Martin V12 Vantage S
- Audi R8 V10 Plus