Alfa Returning to the US.

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Thu May 04, 2006 1:17 pm

Fiat CEO announces imminent return of Alfa Romeo to the North American Market.
http://www.italiaspeed.com/2006/cars/alfa_romeo/05/usa/0405.html

No timetable has been laid out yet, but it is expected it could come as early as late next year.

Likely models will include the 159, Brera, Spider and some of the 500 8C Competizione Coupes being built. The 8C will use a new 4.7L version of the Maserati V8.

159 Sedan

Brera

Spider

8C

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu May 04, 2006 1:24 pm

Look like they went to the Subaru school of butt-ugly front facias! :thumbsdown:

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Thu May 04, 2006 1:48 pm

Actually, Subaru got their grills from them.

2 years ago, Subaru hired Alfa's chief designer.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu May 04, 2006 1:54 pm

Marty Howard wrote:

Actually, Subaru got their grills from them.

2 years ago, Subaru hired Alfa's chief designer.

Ah ha! So I was spot on, just got it bass-ackwards is all.

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Thu May 04, 2006 2:01 pm

yep...

Marty Howard · **Posted:** Fri May 05, 2006 9:33 am

New Models: Alfa 8C Competizione will be built
Remember the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione concept car? The V8-powered, carbonfibre-bodied, front-engined supercar everyone said Alfa should build? Now, over two years since the concept was revealed at the 2003 Frankfurt show, it really could happen writes John Simister.

'It is my dream to do it,' said Alfa's recently-arrived CEO, Antonio Baravalle. 'We have cut the budget for our advertising campaign and will do the 8C instead, because it is a perfect way to promote the Alfa brand. Sergio Marchionne [president of Fiat Auto] says if the figures add up, do it.'

The plan is to have a production-standard 8C ready for the Paris show at the end of September, and to take orders for a 500-car production run then. It will be a coupé, like the concept car, but another of Baravalle's 'dreams' is to make a Spider version later.
Final details of the construction are still to be worked out, but it will most likely be a carbonfibre body over a spaceframe chassis, like the concept. The engine will be based on the block used by the current Ferrari and Maserati V8s, and the end result will be 'more like Ferrari than Maserati' according to Baravalle. That means a flat-plane crankshaft and engine which screams instead of throbs. Target power is 440bhp, target price is as yet undisclosed.

Antonio Baravalle also revealed that Alfa Romeo will decide within the next month on the underpinnings for the forthcoming Alfa 149. The style has already been through customer clinics, but the engineering choice is between a modified version of the next Fiat Stilo/Lancia Delta platform or a shortened Alfa 159 base. Baravalle prefers the second option, because it would make for a 'purer' Alfa, but it depends on costs.

A replacement for the Alfa 166, to be called 169, is also under consideration. It will be a joint venture with Alfa affiliate Maserati because, says Baravalle, the Modena company 'needs a car this size'. It will have a V6 engine, mounted longitudinally to give rear-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. If it goes ahead, the 166 will be the first rear-wheel drive Alfa for well over a decade.

Alfa has also recently shown a Spider version of the car at Pebble Beach.

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