Re: Future Alfas

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I guess I'd have to say that this is all speculation as Alfa has not 
publicly announced anything except that a car very similar to the Brera 
will be sold (announced last January at the Geneva Auto Show). The 
nexus between the Brera and Ferrari is that the ItalDesign Brera show 
car was built using Maserati running gear, including the current 
Maserati coupe/Spider engine. It is not the Ferrari V-8 because the 
Ferrari V-8 is 3.6 liters and is used in the 360 Modena. This is, of 
course, very nit-picky, as Ferrari does actually build both engines in 
their spanking new plant at the Maranello works (which I had the honor 
of touring in late April). But since it is not used in any Ferrari, 
it's not, technically, a Ferrari engine.

Anyway, It's doubtful that Alfa would use that engine and drive train 
in the Brera-derived production car. The reason? Cost. Alfa Romeo 
want's to price the "Sportiva Evoluta" (the current name for the 
production Brera) in the US$60-70K range not in the US$80-90K range 
where the Maserati underpinnings would surely put it. The "Sportiva 
Evoluta" (or whatever Alfa ultimately calls the production version of 
the Brera which Alfa hopes will be ready for unveiling at the Frankfurt 
Motor Show in September) will likely use the upcoming 3.5 liter version 
of the current 3.2 liter GTA DOHC V-6 or an Alfa reworked version of 
either the Australian General Motors Holden 24-valve 3.8 V-6 or perhaps 
the slightly larger Holden V-8 (the GM engine connection is still up in 
the air).

Look for the "Sportiva Evoluta" to be an AWD car based upon the current 
FWD layout (regardless of engine), I.E. transversely mounted V engine 
in unit with the tranny driving the front wheels through and add-on 
transfer case to split the drive between front and rear wheels as 
necessary,

The Link with Giugiaro is to be strong throughout the new Alfa line 
from the "Sportiva Evoluta"  at the top through the new Sprint, to the 
newly redesigned 166 sedan.

Sources:
My discussion in May, in Italy, with Alfa Romeo PR personnel.

George Graves
'86 GTV-6 3.0S


On Saturday, June 28, 2003, at 02:43 PM, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2003 17:42:10 -0400
> From: Joe Elliott <jee@domain.elided>
> Subject: re: Future Alfas
>
> At 8:43 PM +0000 6/27/03, alfa-digest wrote:
> > 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.
>
> - -Joe
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