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Alfa finally free to make the sports sedan it wants to

4K views 24 replies 17 participants last post by  Cajun G8 
#1 ·
Alfa finally free to make the sports sedan it wants to
June 20, 2016
AutoNews.com

With the launch of the Giulia later this year, Alfa Romeo finally will have a sports sedan designed to its own tastes: lightweight, rear-wheel-drive and free from the input of a partner.

Last time it built a contender in this segment, the project got embroiled in Alfa parent Fiat's doomed relationship with General Motors. That car was the front-wheel-drive 159, burdened by the heavy "Premium" platform designed alongside GM to underpin not just an Alfa but also Cadillac and Saab models.

"There was a lot of constraint," Philippe Krief, the Giulia's chief engineer and the guy also responsible for 2005's 159, told Automotive News. "The platform was for GM as well, so we put everything on the car, and by the end, we were alone. But we kept the weight."

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#2 ·
In Jennifer Clark's 2011 book Mondo Agnelli, Bob Lutz, GM's head of product development in 2003, said he bluntly killed GM's participation at a meeting with Swedish, Italian, German and U.S. engineers in a Paris hotel: "You know what guys, I don't like this platform; it's going to be useless for GM. We're withdrawing from the project. We want to do this on our own."

Fiat and GM subsequently canceled their alliance in a divorce that cost GM 1.55 billion euros (then $2 billion).
A huge bit of insight there --- not only into why it all unraveled but also into Lutz's ability to end something unilaterally.
 
#11 ·
Complex lyrics here, but I had to do this:

 
#15 ·
A waste of resources. Alfa and Fiat are dead brands walking.
Local dealer somehow managed to sucker the local Honda dealer into taking their Alfa/Fiat franchise off their hands.
I'm guessing it was dirt cheap for Honda guy. Plus there's not much room for used cars at his Honda lot, so he got a nice building to sell them from.
 
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