Rumours about the new small Alfa Romeo hatchback are flying around the ‘net. The latest is about the name of the car known until now as “Alfa Junior”. After the unsatisfying Alfa Naming contest, now there’s talk of difficulties in registering a trademark for the Junior name.

The latest names being bandied about are Alfa Mito or Alfa Milano. As support for these hypotheses, the Progetto955.it blog has discovered that the “alfamito” and “alfamilano” domains have been registerd by Fiat Group all over Europe.

Via | Progetto955.it (render from Autoweek.nl)

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Alfa Romeo is about to return to the United States, as stressed many times by Sergio Marchionne, Fiat Group CEO. Marchionne also declared that Fiat Group will build a brand new plant in the US that will assemble only Alfa Romeo cars.

Mentioning the strength of the euro on the US dollar as the main reason for such a decision, the Marchionne stated that manufacturing cars in North America is vital to the Alfa Romeo brand. Marchionne also added that Alfa will start to make profits on the US market only three or four years after the brand’s debut.

A curiosity: this won’t be the first Fiat plant in the United States as the italian brand built a factory in Poughkeepsie (NY) back in 1909. Meanwhile, Alfa’s most important factory in Pomigliano D’Arco will stay closed for two months (January 7th- March 2nd 2008) for an “update”.

Via | Autoblog.com

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Spy photos of an Alfa Romeo 159 test mule have been doing the rounds these last few weeks, and everyone suspects that it’s a 159 GTA test mule, due to its 4 menacing exhaust tubes and the camouflage that presumably hides air vents and a bump on the hood. We all hope that the engine will be a Ferrari/Maserati V8 (either the 4.2-liter of the Maserati Granturismo o the 4.7-liter of the 8C Competizione).

The latest sighting was at the Nburgring, the “de rigueur” proving ground for all aspiring sports-cars. Sadly there are no indications about the sound of the engine.

The australian site that published these images writes that the 159 GTA might be shown at the next Geneva auto show (march 2008).

Continue reading: The Alfa Romeo 159 GTA at the Nurburgring

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Fiat is having its Analyst Day at the Lingotto in Turin. Antonio Baravalle, brand manager of Alfa Romeo, did a presentation (pdf), which had some interesting information about new models, besides the slow but sure take-up in sales at Alfa and the climb upmarket from the 156 to the 159. There are also some sketches of upcoming models (Junior, crossover and 169 below the fold).

The model most eagerly awaited by young buyers is the Junior, which is finally confirmed by an official roadmap. The Junior is a small three-door hatchback, probably based on the Grande Punto, a little bit less than 4 meters long, which will be on the market starting from Q2 2008, with a starting price of 16,000 €.

Next is the future C-Segment hatchback, the 149. Sadly its debut has been postponed to Q1 2009. Another novelty is the official entry in the roadmap of the Alfa Crossover, expected by Q1 2010, a sporty 5 door “SUV-coupè”, about 4.6 meters long with prices going from 28,000 to 45,000 €.

Finally, news on the Alfa Romeo flagship, the 169, which should be on the market by the second quarter of 2009 and which should spearhead the Alfa Romeo return to the United States. More than 4.9 meters long, with front engine and rear wheel drive with a transaxle transmission. Prices between 40,000 and 55,000 €.

Continue reading: Fiat Analyst Day - future Alfa Romeo models

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Someone on the Autopareri forums managed to get a couple of snapshots of an Alfa Romeo 159 GTA test mule.

In the photo from the front you can get a tantalizing glance of the red cylinder heads, typical of Ferrari and Maserati V8s, transversely mounted. The photo of the rear shows four oval exhaust tubes.

There are some doubts about the precise nature of the engine in this test mule: some details seem to point to a bi-turbo version of the Holden-derived 3.2 V6, which was supposed to equip the first mules of the 159 GTA, but was subsequently rejected (too much torque for the transmission) in favor of a V8.

The Ferrari/Maserati-derived V8 engine should weigh just 20 kg more than the 3.2 V6 of the 159, and 30 kg less than trhe 2.4 JTDm turbo-diesel engine, and rumours about the GTA say that it should weigh 7/8% less than the 159 3.2 V6 Q4, with which it shares the four-wheel drive system, with a 65% bias to the rear for torque distribution.

Below the fold you can also find a couple of images of the 4.7 V8 engine of the 8C Competizione and of the 4.2 V8 engine of the Maserati Quattroporte. The question is: which one of these will the V8 of the GTA resemble most ?

Update: added a new image of the engine and corrected the text of the post to reflect doubts on the precise nature of the engine.

Continue reading: Alfa Romeo 159 GTA test mule

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Below you can find the full text of the Alfa Romeo press release on the 8C Competizione - everything you wanted to know about this gorgeus car and its heritage, besides the price the 500 units will command and performance data, which I guess is being held back for the Paris debut.

The photos of the 8C Competizione can be found in the previous post.

Continue reading: Alfa 8C Competizione - the press release

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The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, without a doubt the most beautiful car that will be shown at the Paris Auto Show. For once, a car that maintains all the promises of the concept car that anticipated it, even if three years is a long time to wait.

The engine is different from the one of the concept: it’s the new 4.7-liters Maserati V8 with 450 PS.

The body is carbon fiber, on a steel chassis. According to Alfa, the 8C has a negative lift, even though there are no visible spoilers.

Continue reading: Here it is: the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione

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People have started unleashing their photoshop skills on the upcoming Alfa Romeo 169. And who can blame them: Alfa will finally build a nice big saloon, based on the Maserati Quattroporte with a transaxle transmission and nice big engines.

The image you can see above is from Italian magazine Auto (via the french colleagues at Le Blog Auto), but it doesn’t do much for us: the doors are a bit too much like the Peugeot 607’s and the front is a bland version of the 159’s.

We prefer the ones you can find below the fold, a mix of the Aston Martin Panamera and the 8C Competizione, made by a contributor to the Autopareri forums.

Continue reading: Photoshop unleashed: Alfa 169

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The design of the Alfa Romeo 149 (expected in 2008) is being finalized in these days. Italian magazine Quattroruote has published a new computer-generated image, based on photos “escaped” from Arese. The heir to the 147 Hatchback will be based on the compact platform, the same as the next Fiat Bravo, which will be hardened up and for which a revised suspension scheme will be adopted, to make it more suitable for an Alfa Romeo.

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Alfa Romeo has just finished showning the new Spider to a squadron of reporters from all over the world. For the rest of us, there’s a whole load of new photos (51), plus a new press release, of which you can find the short version below the fold and the full version (zipped rtf) on Alfa’s press site.

Continue reading: Alfa Spider - more photos and info

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