Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 09:22:11 -0700
From: Will Owen <nashwill912@domain.elided>
Subject: Future Alfas
David Serafini wrote:
Also of note: the new spider GTA is scheduled to get the 4.2L Ferrari V8
(@425hp) and 4wd.
This strikes me as making it very similar to the Maser spider, and I don't
understand why they want to do that.
I was not privy to the decision-making process, but my guess is their
reasoning was along the same lines as Ford's decision to sell the
all-but-identical Aston-Martin and Jaguar XK at hyper-astronomical and
merely-astronomical prices respectively: because they CAN, and because
it's a good way to sell more cars. "Badge engineering" it's called in
the UK, and most of the multi-marque conglomerates have been doing it as
a matter of course for the last 50-some years. At its least inventive
and most boring it amounts to changing logos and trim, but now that so
much real engineering can be done on the fly it's fairly easy to tailor
not only appearance but dynamic characteristics to each market segment.
I'd be more inclined to suggest that the media speculation David
cites is bogus. I'd love to think that the Brera will see production
(with 4.2L V8 and rear transaxle), and other future Alfas will be RWD
as well, and I'm almost prepared to believe rumors along those lines
that have gotten published by various sources recently. But for the
Ferrari V8 to see widespread use throughout the Alfa product line
just doesn't strike me as realistic, and not just because such a
Spider would compete the Maserati's.