Autoblog

After having being introduced way back in 1998, Alfa Romeo finally stopped production of the 166 last year. Now without a flagship sedan to hold up the top of the range, Alfa is working on the development of its successor. However, the 169 (as the model is expected to be called) has been pushed back at least another three years while the automaker tries to sort out which platform it will be based on.

With an eye towards the American market, Alfa is said to be committed to making the new 169 a rear-wheel-drive vehicle, but the only rear-drive platform the Milanese automaker has in its range belongs to the 8C Competizione, which CEO Luca de Meo recently rejected as a possible donor for the 169. (Rats.) The platform that underpins sister-company Maserati's Quattroporte and GranTurismo was likewise dismissed as too costly, as Alfa Romeo looks to other automakers – chief among them Jaguar, now owned by the Fiat Group's Indian ally Tata – for a suitable rear-drive platform for Alfa's new flagship sedan.

In related news from the other end of the range, the upcoming 149, which – along with the new MiTo – will replace the aging 147, is reportedly getting a brand new platform of its own. The reports contradict earlier suggestions that the five-door hatch would be based on the Fiat Bravo platform when the new 149 is introduced in 2009.

[Source: AutoTelegraaf via Motor Authority]

Click above for a gallery of Ferrari's Project F149.

With the debut of the Ferrari 149 GT California (or something like that) just around the corner, new shots of the Ferrari mule have surfaced at Autogespot, revealing a few more details about the entry-level Fezza. Unlike some spy pics we've seen that obscure everything from the B-pillar back, these newest images show a steeply raked rear windscreen that terminates into an artificially elongated trunk, rumored to house a folding hard top. The front clip is sporting a large radiator intake and the hood stretches back in true Ferrari style. As reported before, Project F149 is rumored to be powered by a 4.7-liter V8 producing 480 to 500 hp. More details are expected soon. We're standing by.


[Source: Autogespot via Jalopnik]

Alfa Romeo is returning to the US market in about a year, offering the zooty 8C Competizione and 8C Spider atop a range of less spectacular offerings. While the top-end 8Cs will probably be Italian emigres, the 149 and 169 sedans could be put together in Mexico. Alfa doesn't have a hard and fast decision yet, and could pick another site, even one in North America. Moving the labor to Mexico for the volume sellers might prove to be a wise move on Alfa's part. The dollar continues to take a beating, pushing up the cost of European items on US sales markets, and building somewhere else would sidestep some of those increased costs. Alfa is trying this idea in China, too, where Chery will assemble automobiles for that market. We're all for it if it gets the keys to some stylish Italians in our hands while holding the prices down. The quality can't be any worse than it was in the bad old days that led to the notorious reputation for unreliability that afflicted Italian marques. Besides, those shop queens were so joyous to drive, they made suckers out of all of us, and we'd do it again, given the chance.

[Source: Inside Line]

To replace its aging 147 hatchback, Alfa Romeo is going with two separate models. The 3-door version is being replaced by a little sport-hatch tentatively known as the Junior, of which we've seen countless spy shots and teasers. The 5-door, we'd been told, was being replaced by an entirely different model, likely to be labeled 149, but this is the first time we've seen it.

To make its products financially feasible, Alfa has been basing many of its new models on shared platforms from Fiat Group sister companies. So while the 3-door will be based on the Fiat Grande Punto, the 149 shares its platform with the larger Fiat Bravo. That corresponds to a bigger 149 than the 147 it replaces. The car in the spy shot is wearing mostly Bravo bodywork, but a sharp eye will notice the trademark Alfa grille up front.

Now pay attention, 'cause this model very well might make it over to the U.S. market with Alfa's return. Engine options will likely include a range of Fiat Group powerplants from the T-Jet and M-Jet series, and could include a 265-hp V6 for the GTA version. Alfa Romeo would be smart to stick with six-speed manual and automatic gearboxes – this writer has driven a 147 equipped with the Selespeed semi-automatic gearbox, and I agree with our source's assessment that the U.S. market especially would be better served by more conventional transmission choices.

The 149 is tipped to hit European markets with a €20 000 base price sometime in mid 2009 after the Junior becomes available this coming October. That means we could see it pop up at one of the big shows later this year.

[Source: World Car Fans]

Fans of Italian cars have been eagerly anticipating the replacement of the Alfa Romeo 147, currently the company's entry-level model. Alfa's working on a new "junior" model to slot below it in the line-up while it prepares a genuine replacement, expected to carry the 149 nameplate.

The current 147 was introduced back in 2001. It got a mild facelift in 2005, but that hasn't been enough to boost sales to where the Italian carmaker wants them to be. These photos are reported to be taken of a clay mock-up and not a pre-production car, which would be a little premature given the production schedule. According to information from parent company Fiat, the new 149 isn't due to hit the market until the middle of 2009, at which point the 147 will have been on the market eight long years.

The 149 is tipped to be based on the new Fiat Bravo, launching a two-pronged Italian attack on the popular Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf. The car is expected to grow slightly in size over the 147, with gasoline engines starting at a 120-hp 1.4-lter four to a Q4 version with a 3.2-liter V6 pumping 260 hp through all four wheels, and a range of diesel engines on offer as well. Still no word on whether the hatchback will join the 8C Competizione, Brera and 159 when Alfa returns to the American market.

Related post:

• More insight into new Alfa Romeo 149

(A few more spy shots of the 149 mock-up after the jump)

[Source: Autotematic Forums via Motor Authority]

Typically we get production announcements from manufacturers one model at a time, if not one brand at a time, but the Fiat Group has released their full production schedule for the Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Fiat brands for the next few years.

We'll get right into the good stuff with the most exciting of the three (and the only one destined for a re-emergence in the North American market): Alfa Romeo. The long awaited 149 has been pushed back again to mid-2009, before which the 147 it replaces will get the Fiat Group's new 1.4-liter turbo next summer. While waiting for the 149, the Alfa Junior, a sports hatch slotting below it, will hit the roads in mid-2008. A special version of the Alfa Romeo GT called the "Veloce" will arrive next January, and a sportier Ti version of the gorgeous 159 will hit showrooms next February/March.

The Fiat Bravo, shots of which have been floating around the net, will arrive long before the Alfa 149 with which it shares its platform, arriving late next summer. Fiat's revival of the 500 is due for January '08. A new model called the Linea is due next fall, and the Grande Punto will get the 1.4-liter turbo early next summer.

Lastly, Lancia's new Delta, previewed by the HPE concept in Paris, is scheduled to hit the road early in 2008, a facelifted Musa in fall 2007, and a Sport version of the Ypsillon city-car next spring.

Unfortunately, Fiat didn't give us a production schedule for Ferrari and Maserati, so we'll have to wait for the news piece by piece.

[Source: Carscoop]

Fiat is preparing its new Bravo for debut at Geneva next spring, and photos have surfaced of a test mule tooling around Turin.

Fiat hopes to take aim at the hot-selling Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus with its new Bravo hatch, developed in conjunction with Canadian components supplier Magna. Although the mules are heavily disguised, you can discern a front end influenced by the Italian company's successful Grande Punto, above which the Bravo will slot in the Fiat line-up. Considering the new Punto was penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro's ItalDesign, that's not a bad thing to emulate.

Fiat needs the Bravo to succeed in order to maintain the positive momentum gained by the success of the new Punto. Although the Bravo won't be reaching American shores, the Alfa 149, which will share share its platform, likely will.

[Source: World Car Fans]

This just in from Info Motori: some concept sketches of Alfa Romeo's upcoming 147-replacement, the 149. OK, so they are just a few more illustrations to go along with the dozen or so others floating around out there, but with Alfa poised for a U.S. comeback and products like the 8C and Brera out there, Alfa is one of our favorite topics of conversation lately.

Although people have been speculating about the new design for more than a year, the renderings put forth have generally fallen into two categories. Some have been evolutions of the hot hatch look with Brera-like front ends, while the remainder have used an 8C type nose. This one falls somewhere in between and doesn't seem to have the elegance of either. The article offers no new information about the running gear besides some speculation about current offerings, but does so in a wonderfully quaint Italian-to-English translation that reminds us of talking to our paesans. Follow the jump for a couple more pics.

[Source: Info Motori]