Category: Alfa Romeo

In an interview given to Autoweek, Alfa Romeo head of design Franck Stephenson confirms he quits the carmaker. The news doesn’t come as a surprise. Former head of design at Fiat, he had been nominated at Alfa Romeo after being replaced by Lorenzo Ramaciotti. Observers were wondering how long it would take him to resign.

The designer refused to comment on his reasons. However he denied there was a link between its resignation and its forced move to Alfa. "There are no problems with Lorenzo. He is a fun guy to work with, and we worked very well together," he told the newspaper.

Despite moving inside the Fiat Group to head different brands design studio, the American designer succeeded in designing memorable cars such as the Cinquecento, the Bravo, the Quattroporte and the NC12. Before joining Fiat, Stephenson worked for BMW where he designed the first X5 and the Mini.

Franck Stephenson will be replaced 40-year-old Austrian Christopher Reitz.

Here is a video of the expected but not confirmed future Alfa Romeo 159 GTA likely to be powered by a Maserati V8 engine.

The 156 GTA was highly praised for its Italian V6. The upcoming 159 GTA will also be praised for its engine, a V8 unit likely to be outsourced from Maserati. The video confirms the 159 GTA features a big engine whose sounds are similar to that of a V8 petrol unit. The car was filmed near the Nurburgring where Alfa was conducting driving tests. The car features huge side vents behind the front wheels.

Details remains scarce regarding the engine although some observers believe that the 159 GTA will be powered by the 4.2-litre V8 seen on the Granturismo coupé. However it is also rumoured that the GTA might get the 4.7-litre from the 8C flagship. In both cases, it seems that the engine would be detuned.

Alfa Romeo has released a video of the new Mi.To small car in which an Italian guy has been invited to the Alfa Romeo Centro Stile to get a look a the new baby Alfa.

Beyond the corporate message, what’s interesting about this video is that it shows the Mi.To with people next to it, showing the true proportions of the future car. 

Ahead of the schedule, Alfa Romeo has released the first official pictures of the long-awaited baby Alfa called Mi.To.

With this new model, Alfa Romeo wants to increase its global sales by adding around more than 100,000 Mi.To per year to the current production. If the Mi.To doesn’t meet success, the company’s future might be shadowed as Sergio Marchionne wants the brand to come back to profit by 2010.

Intended to take on the established Mini, the Mi.To plans to rely on its appealing design to conquer potential customers. The Mi.To takes its styling cues from the 8C Competizione: the shape of the unframed side windows, the three-lobed motif that distinguishes the front bumper, the shape of the headlights and the LED tail lights. Without a doubt, the new small Alfa brings the Italian touch to the masses.

At 4.06 metres long, 1.44 metres high and 1.72 metres wide, the Mi.To is longer and wider, but lower than the Grande Punto on which it is based. With the Fiat model, the new Alfa will also share its engine range, turbocharged petrol and diesel engines spanning 90-155bhp. Alfa romeo confirms that higher powered versions will be launched later.

The Mi.To will feature the company’s DNA system. This driver-operated system acts directly on the engine, brakes, steering, suspension and gearbox, allowing three different vehicle behaviour modes based on the driving style best suited to the situation or the customer’s wishes: sporting (Dynamic), town driving (Normal), maximum safety even in difficult grip conditions (All-Weather).

The baby Alfa will go on sale in Italy this summer, but will arrive on our shores only early next year.

The future small Alfa Romeo or Progetto955 came under the spotlights as two information were revealed: the baby Alfa night be christened Mito and will be unveiled to the dealer ship on March 18th.

Last year, the Italian marque had launched a poll in partnership with car magazines to choose the future name of the Progetto955. Among the list, ‘Furiosa’ came first, but Alfa didn’t find the elected name suitable for all languages. It appears that the company has chosen a two syllabus word: Mito. This short name combines both the cities of MI-lano and TO-rino together. It will be easy to remember or to confuse with a certain MIni at least.

While the car will officially unveiled in July, Alfa Romeo will show the final model to the dealer sheep in less than three weeks. The car will go on sale from September in Italy and in Europe after the Paris Motor Show.

The Alfa Mito will be available with a wide range of engines, a 95bhp 1.4-litre petrol unit, a Multiair 105bhp 1.4-litre petrol engine hooked up to a six-speed manual gearbox and a 1.6-litre turbocharged unit with either 135bhp or 165bhp. The topping petrol engine will be a 1.8-litre turbocharged which will have a power output of 230bhp. Along the petrol engines, Alfa will offer only one diesel engine, the 120bhp 1.6-litre unit.

The car is expected to cost £11,500 for the entry level model which is similar to the £11,625 required by the Mini One.

Source: Italiaspeed and Autoweek

Along the 8C Spider, Alfa Romeo will unveil a slightly revamped 159 model whose main interest will be its weight loss.

The 159 is a moving sculpture to look at but due to its platform, the Italian diva was rather heavy on the scale and this was presented as one of the mina default of the model. Concerned about the problem, Alfa Romeo engineers focused on weight reduction. The facelifted 159 loses 100 lbs thanks to lighter alloy wheels and stabilizing bar, single-body aluminum front brake calipers on the 4 cylinder version and the front suspension brackets.

If the exterior remains hopefully unchanged, the interior styling features minor cosmetic changes such as new display graphics, updated trim and upolstery and new wraparound ergonomic seats. The display graphics changes concern the instrument display, the satellite navigator at the centre of the dashboard and the climate controls.

The 159 gets a new trim level called Sport which comes with exclusive 17” alloy wheels, with a specific 5-spoke design combined to 225/50 tyres, sporting wheels with radio mounted controls and gear stick lined in leather with black stitching. The revamped 159 introduces three new paints, Ice White, Crystal Blue and Grey Indigo, and three new alloys.

The range evolves as the 3.2 V6 260 CV engine is from now on available as front-wheel drive model enabled to reach a top speed of 155mph.

Here are the official pictures of the production Alfa Romeo 8C spider which won’t hit the showrooms before next year.

Following the example of the coupé, the 8C Spider will be powered by the 450bhp 4.7-litre V8 engine derived from the Maserati’s V8. The engine will likely hooked up to the same six-speed gearbox used in the coupé. The 8C Spider also features ceramic brakes and Alfa engineers have improved the in-house traction control system called VDC.

Like any proper convertible, the 8C Spider will come with a canvas roof and will be built at only 500 units.