alfa romeo 159

Fiat Ponders Selling Alfa Romeo to VW

While Sergio Marchionne, CEO of both Italian automaker Fiat and American automaker Chrysler, busies himself with fixing Chrysler and taking the mostly government-owned automaker into the public markets next year, he is wrestling with the dilemma of whether to sell Fiat's beloved, but money-losing, Alfa Romeo brand to Volkswagen.

The companies have been negotiating the possible sales, according to industry sources, confirming a report in Automotive News.

Volkswagen supervisory board chairman Ferdinand Piech has recently taken the unusual course of publicly stating that VW would like to buy Alfa, and that it believes as a company that it could turn the Italian brand around to profitability more easily than Fiat. That move was probably meant to inform industry analysts, and thus pressure Fiat to sell.

VW, of course, has made a business the last decade or more of collecting brands. Today, the VW Group includes not only VW, but Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Skoda, Seat and most recently, Porsche.

Tags: Alfa Romeo, Alfa Romeo 159, alfa romeo giulietta, alfa romeo spider, AlfaRomeoMito, chrysler, sergio marchionne, volkswagen

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Autodelta's Supercharged Alfa Romeo Brera S & J4 159

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Few cars on the road – at any price – have the presence of an Alfa Romeo. Unfortunately their performance seldom keeps up with their looks. That's where aftermarket modifiers come in.

Last year the Italian automaker contracted British motorsport concern Prodrive to help it out in the performance department. Their answer was the Brera S, removing much of the aggressively-styled coupe's weight and fine-tuning the suspension. Now Autodelta is getting in on the action. The English tuning house has taken Prodrive's Brera S coupe and strapped on a supercharger good for 347 horsepower.

The power upgrades are also available on the Brera's four-door counterpart, the 159, which Autodelta transforms into the J4 3.2 Compressore. The pair were unveiled at London's exciting MPH09, but you can see them for yourself in the gallery below.

Gallery: Autodelta Alfa Romeo Brera S & J4 159 3.2 Compressore

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Plans for Alfa Romeo's Return to North America come into Focus

by Noah Joseph (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

With parent company Fiat Group's partnership with Chrysler, plans have been in motion for Alfa Romeo to finally, after years of speculation and strategizing, return to the North American market. But while the bulk of Alfa's line-up currently consists of relatively small vehicles, those that will be offered on this side of the Atlantic will be decidedly larger.

To start off, the company's smallest vehicles won't, according to the latest reports, make it to North America altogether. That includes the MiTo three-door hatchback and the Milano five-door which is slated to replace the ageing 147. The North American range is expected to start out instead with the replacements for the 159 and 166 sedans.

The current 159, as beautiful as it is, is slated to be replaced by the upcoming Giulia around 2012 as a global product that will include the North American market. Meanwhile reports indicate that Alfa Romeo could build a successor to the discontinued 166 flagship sedan on this side of the Atlantic in Ontario, Canada.

Gallery: Alfa Romeo