The first day of June 2018 became significant for the Italian-American concern FCA, as Sergio Marchionne, CEO of the entire alliance, planned a big press conference for this day. On it, he presented the production plans of individual car manufacturers.
The Italian brands Alfa Romeo and Lancia were like sisters in ancient history, but today it is unfortunately different. The reason is simple, Lancia has been in so-called clinical death for several years, because it only produces the Ypsilon model, and it is still only sold in its homeland. Fortunately, Alfa Romeo is doing considerably better, so what can we look forward to over the next four years?
GTV = Giulia Coupe
The first news announced is the return of the legendary Alfa Romeo GTV , which will essentially be a Giulia Coupé and the top-of-the-line Quadrifoglio will not be missing either – it will go hard after competition in the form of the BMW M4, Audi RS5 and Mercedes-AMG C 63. In the attached image from the presentation, the seeing that the modern GTV will have a 50:50 weight distribution and four seats in the cabin. We don't know the exact engine yet, but it should have more than 600 horsepower with E-Boost technology and four-wheel drive, including torque vectoring. The premiere of the revived GTV will take place by 2022.
The 8C accelerates to 100 km/h in less than three seconds!
The GTV will not be the only coupe in the portfolio of the Milanese automaker, as it will be joined by the new 8C. It will offer over 700 horsepower from a hybrid system that will include a twin-turbocharged engine placed in the middle of the car and will drive the rear wheels. An electric motor will take care of the front wheels. In a sprint, the new 8C can accelerate to 100 km/h in under three seconds. FCA also said that a carbon monocoque will be part of it, and a green four-leaf clover can be seen in the image from the profile.
Stelvio will not be the only SUV, extended wheelbase only for China
Since the Stelvio is said to be a successful model, Alfa Romeo will add two more SUVs to its offer. The first of them will have compact dimensions and will be placed below the Stelvio, while the second will be larger than the Stelvio for a change and will thus become a competitor for the BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GLE and Audi Q7. Furthermore, the automaker wants to focus on the introduction of Giulia and Stelvia with an extended wheelbase for the Chinese market, which should help increase sales of the entire FCA alliance – more precisely, from 2.6 million units last year to 3.2 million units by 2022.
Goodbye JTDM… What about Giulietta?
Like it or not, Alfa Romeo wants to say goodbye to diesel engines soon, because electrification is now getting space in their strategy. In practice, this means that in the future (probably by 2022) instead of diesel cars, we will see hybrid or plug-in hybrid Alfas on the streets.
At first, it didn't look like the smallest Giulietta model would survive into the next production schedule, but the opposite is true. The representative of the lower middle class will undergo a significant change and will receive a plug-in hybrid system. After that, it will go into battle with the Audi A3 Sportback , the Mercedes A-Class and the BMW 1 Series. The current Giulia and Stelvio models will also undergo a facelift, in the middle of their life cycle. Of course, even they cannot avoid the deployment of plug-in hybrid technology and, moreover, even autonomous technologies.
