Autoblog

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]

Any way you look at it, Toyota's foray into Formula 1 has not yielded positive results. Despite throwing unprecedented amounts of money at the effort, their F1 team has not produced the kind of results to which the automotive giant has become accustomed. So they've apparently decided that it was time for a change in management.

Tsutomu Tomita, who saw the program through from conception to fruition, will be yielding to corporate vice-chairman Tadashi Yamashina at the end of June. Toyota has yet to announce what role Tomita will assume upon his return to corporate headquarters, but you can bet it won't be as exciting as the fast-paced world of F1 racing.

Toyota is spinning the shift as an ordinary shuffle in management, but when their F1 team has been rumored to benefit from the largest budget on the grid and has still yet to win a single race, it becomes clear that Toyota is hoping a new boss at their racing headquarters in Cologne will change their fortunes.

[Source: TSN]

Volkswagen's Phaeton could not exactly be described as a run-away success. The German carmaker planned to make a modest 20,000 units, but only managed to sell a quarter that amount. But someone in Wolfsburg must have gotten an "if at first you don't succeed" fortune cookie, and they're determined to give it another shot.

The next Phaeton, as we've reported previously, will save considerably on development costs by sharing its underpinnings with the next A6 from corporate cousin Audi. This, however, is no mere speculation: it comes straight from the mouth of CEO Martin Winterkorn. The end result will be a Phaeton smaller than the one it replaces, bringing costs down and bringing it slightly closer to the top-end Passat to help close the enormous gap in the Volkswagen model line-up.

The current slow-selling Phaeton cost Volkswagen a bundle to develop, but all was not lost as the platform ended up providing the basis for the more successful Bentley Continental range, with its coupe, cabrio and sedan variations. What will happen with the next Continental, you ask? Sources suggest that it will take its underpinnings from the latest Audi A8.

All in all this amounts to a change of direction for the German auto group, which has a history of investing heavily into new models which compete with offerings from their own subsidiaries.

[Source: Motor Authority]

We're going to have to wait until pictures of the actual production XF drop, but in the meantime these renderings are likely not very shy of the mark. Motor Authority commisioned Schulte-Design to analyze the concept car, various spy shots of XF mules, and inside information from people familiar with the car, melding it all into a coherent stab at what we can expect on the street. The S-Type is so last millennium, so it will be nice to see its replacement wearing a modern design language.

That design language is pulled back a bit from the concept, but it still ends up looking great. If this is the new face of Jaguar, there's hope. Not that paying homage to 40 years ago is outright bad, but it's nice to see something new emerging. If the transition from concept to production is as gentle and dare we say refined as what we see in the renderings, we have a billet-sculpted, muscular Jag coming.

[Source: Motor Authority]

When we reported a month ago that Honda was working on a replacement for the S2000 roadster, we speculated that the new convertible could be positioned as an Acura. Such rumors are gaining credence as the S2000 replacement isn't shaping up to be much like the S2000 at all.

Emerging reports suggest that the new convertible could be badged as an Acura, which will likely mean it'll get a completely different name to fit into the premium brand's nomenclature – probably matching the "_SX" formula. (The brand issue is really only a consideration for the North American market – overseas Acuras are sold as Hondas, anyway.) It's also tipped to include four seats, whereas the S2000 is a strict two-seater. Rear drive remains a question mark, as the new convertible could shift to front-wheel-drive. Apparently a retractable hard-top is also being considered.

When all's said and done, a front-drive, four-seat, hard-top Acura doesn't sound like it would be much like the lightweight, rear-drive, two-seat, rag-top Honda at all. The S2000 was never a mass-market automobile, always consigned to the niche, but a luxury coupe-cabrio might be just what Acura needs to bolster its line-up. At that point, however, can you really call it an S2000 successor?

[Source: Winding Road]

Bugatti is moving ahead with plans for a new model to succeed the record-shattering, earth-moving, mouth-watering Veyron supercar. That's what Thomas Bscher, chief of the Volkswagen AG subsidiary, contends, despite reported efforts by Porsche to derail the über-ultra-super-duper-premium-luxury carmaker.

Here we assume Bscher's not talking about the upcoming targa variant of the Veyron, but a completely new model. We can expect that whether it's a front-engined touring coupe, a CLS-style four-door coupe or a super-luxury saloon, the next Bugatti will share a great deal of the mechanicals with the Veyron so as to defer further development costs and better utilize the enormous amount of resources that went into the supercar.

While Posche wants to marginalize Bugatti into an even more exclusive brand, confining it to rare one-offs and thereby all but eliminating it from the scene, previous reports suggested the brand may go further down-market instead. But with a host of brands producing a variety of vehicles, Bugatti would need to be very careful not to step on the toes of sister brands Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini.

One thing's for sure, Bscher notes: they won't be producing another car like the Veyron from scratch again. (Neither will anyone else, for that matter.)

[Source: The Car Connection]

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]

Automotive News reported yesterday that Toyota has decided to leave the current Corolla on the market for an extra year and delay its replacement until 2008. This will be the current generation's sixth year on the market, which is a record and breaks the company's long-standing tradition of redesigning vehicles after their fifth model year.

Toyota cites the redistribution of engineering resources to ensure a smooth launch for the redesigned Camry as the main reason for the delay. Other automotive news outlets are speculating that the real reason is because Honda's new Civic has forced Toyota to go back to the drawing board.

For our part, we believe Toyota. The Honda Civic is currently enjoying a 17.1% increase in sales through the first six months of 2006 and has moved 165,056 units. Despite the Honda's critical success, the Corolla continues to steam roll its competition, including the new Civic, with a 38.7% increase in sales during the first half of the year, selling nearly 200,000 units. Clearly the Corolla can hold its own for one more year, which gives Toyota 365 more days to build a better Civic slayer.

[Source: Automotive News via The Detroit News]

Analyst Rebecca Lindland from Global Insight Inc. is going on the record saying it's likely General Motors will cancel the Trailblazer (SS model shown) after the current model ends its run around 2010. Its replacement would emerge in the form of the Hummer H4, which would fill the role of GM's smallest body-on-frame SUV. Chevrolet will receive a new unibody SUV (or CUV?) at that time, perhaps a version of the Opel Antera that's crossing the sea to join Saturn's lineup in the near future.

The HUMMER H4 will likely be built on an even smaller version of the frame that underpins the Chevy Colorado and HUMMER H3. As body-on-frame SUVs are falling out of favor with the family crowd, the H3 will likely carry on the HUMMER cache with impressive off-road abilities and target the Jeep Wrangler as its closest competition.

[Source: The Detroit News]