Alfa Romeo Giulietta 101 Spider, 1960 on 2040-cars

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High school design students sketch out FCA's 'ultimate status vehicle'

Each year since 2013, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) hosts a design contest for high school students called Drive for Design intended to educate and encourage automotive career hopefuls. For 2019, FCA prompted 10th, 11th, and 12th graders to imagine the "ultimate status vehicle." The top three choices include two Alfa Romeos and a Maserati. FCA named first, second, and third places in the contest. Maximillian Cooper (lead image) from Design and Architecture Senior High in Miami won first place. Mason Ross (first inline image) from Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien, Wash., took second. Vincent Piaskowski (Maserati image) from Ernest W. Seaholm High School in Birmingham, Mich., placed third. The three winners of the contest will be awarded with numerous valuable prizes. They will get behind-the-scenes tours at the FCA U.S. Product Design studios, as well as mentoring time with some of FCA's designers. They will also get scholarships to attend the Precollege Summer Experience Transportation Design program at the College for Creative Studies. Lastly, they'll have the honor of serving as junior judges at the EyesOn Design Car Show. Although each sketch has a unique look, all three take the same approach: cab-forward, bubble-top supercar coupes with dramatic lines and curves. Piaskowski's shows direct inspiration from a shark, but we wouldn't be surprised if all three students have special places in their hearts for the Pininfarina Maserati Birdcage Concept.

Alfa Romeo Giulia gets top safety award from IIHS

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has awarded a Top Safety Pick+ rating, its highest award, to the 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia midsize luxury sedan — but with a caveat. The Giulia must have been built after May of this year, when the car's front-end structure was improved and the door hinge pillar and door sill were reinforced, among other changes. Vehicles that earn the IIHS's Top Safety Pick+ must achieve good ratings in all five crash tests — small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength and head restraints — an advanced or superior rating in front crash prevention and and acceptable or good rating for headlights. The Giulia's optional front crash prevention system earned a superior rating after it avoided a crash in the 12 mph track test and reduced its impact speed by an average 24 mph in the 25 mph test. The car's optional curve-adaptive headlights earned a good rating, while the base headlights rated poor. It joins 2017 versions of the Lexus ES 350, Audi A3 and A4, Volvo S60 and V60, and BMW 2 series and 3 series, as Top Safety Pick+ awardees for its segment. You can read our First Drive review of the Giulia here. Featured Gallery 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Lusso View 26 Photos Alfa Romeo Luxury Sedan crash test alfa romeo giulia

Audi rumored to buy Alfa Romeo, officials deny it

For more than two years, Volkswagen has been making public statements about its willingness to buy Alfa Romeo and quadruple the Italian brand's sales, and for just as long, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has replied with some version of "Mr. Piëch, drop it." According to a report in Ward's Auto, all that jousting might be over: it claims that sources close to both Marchionne and Audi CEO Rupert Stadler admit that the two are in talks for Audi to buy not just Alfa Romeo, but a production plant in Italy. In fact, a final deal could possibly include partsmaker Magnetti Marelli.
Against that backdrop, a report by German news weekly Stern quotes a Fiat spokesmen as saying it doesn't comment on rumors and an Audi rep has said flatly that "There is no substance in the news." If a sale is being arranged, the timing would seem to point to how eager Fiat is to raise cash to complete its major initiatives. Even though Alfa Romeo continues to delay its return to the US, it just showed off the production version of the 4C at the Geneva Motor Show (shown above) and said that preferred Fiat dealerships here would get them. Then there's Alfa's recently concluded deal with Mazda to develop a roadster based on the next generation MX-5 Miata - a deal that would seem to help both the Italian and Japanese brands.
The monetary issues are troublesome, though. Fiat is taking a beating in the European market and its weak-kneed balance sheet is delaying gotta-have-it products like the Jeep Cherokee. Fiat has been talking to banks about getting money to buy the rest of Chrysler and those financial institutions have also raised issues about debt and cash reserves, and the nasty game of chess Fiat is playing with the United Auto Workers (and now the court system about the portion of Chrysler it doesn't own) could end up blowing another hole in Marchionne's plans. It is possible that this could finally have convinced Fiat to at least see how serious Audi's parent company, Volkswagen, is about buying Alfa Romeo. Or it could be just another rumor.