I remain hopeful

[MD]

Alfa have done it before and  I think they can do it again- produce some future classics.

Never say die and never give up (To BMW and the Japs) 

[Sheldon McIntosh]

They need to greenlight this....

[dehne]

and in black would be unreal would also double as the new nightrider car

[Duk]

Alfa have done it before and  I think they can do it again- produce some future classics.

Alfa Romeo have got to start producing Alfa Romeo's again.

Never say die and never give up (To BMW and the Japs) 

The trouble with that is, what have Alfa Romeo produced in the last 20 years that comparable in price, chassis lay out (not to many rear wheel drive Alfa's in that time. Re-bodied Maserati's don't count), build quality and durability?

[MD]

OK, I have been sprung. I confess. I am hanging in by the fingernails...my act of defiance against BMW is inspired by this little guy...

[wankski]

loving the tz3...

[MD]

I would REALLY love to see Alfa make a proper sports tourer for once to test the Alfa market and see what it is that Alfa enthusiaste really want.

The lard arse brigade can have all the luxury stuff that ads weight for no performance gain. As for me, this is my prescription for the my next Alfa that I would be prepared to actually shell out some money for:-

Rear wheel drive
No air conditioning
No radio
No electric anything except the fan, wipers and starter.
Two seats
A stick shift
Manual gearbox
Brake balancing
No insulation and no sound deadening
No McPherson strutts

As for the rest, I would leave it to the good sense of Alfa engineers to get the power to weight balance right. The gearing and engine details to match, The styling should make a purposeful statement in simplicity but identifiable as definitely Alfa.

This car would not be a shopping basket, a dress accessory, a boulevard cruiser with hi-fi bass pumping nor a pretentious razzmatazz box on wheels to drive through McDonalds.

The car's objectives would be to be a pure motoring enthusiast pleaser and nothing more or less. The X-19 sort of came pretty close

Do you think Fiat would have the hormones to do it?

[Duk]

Do you think Fiat would have the hormones to do it? 

Nope! And at the risk of offending other members, the reuse of the Giulietta name is just more of the same. Marketing and make up (body and interior styling) over engineering and value for money.
To big a leap for FIAT to take if Alfa Romeo is already making enough money to justify it's existence while churning out cars that are a long way removed from Alfa's of yester-decade, why would they commit the coin when they have Ferrari and Maserati under their umbrella?

Perhaps if some diehard with massive resources actually bought Alfa Romeo from FIAT, then real changes could happen. Until then, from a purely business perspective, which all major car manufacturers are, if it aint broke, why spend the moo-laa to fix it?

[MD]

Geez Duk, you know how to hurt a guy  !!
Just when the dream was starting to feel good, I get a rude awakening with a straight kick in the bolsheviks !! EEEEYYAAOOO !!   

I'm changing the topic heading to " It remains dismal ".

Is there anyone out there with something more uplifting to prevent me from getting a hari krishna outfit,some roller skates and dissappear into the horizon..... 

[Duk]

All right, my bad, I'm sorry  .

Have you seen any sign of life from real the Alfa Romeo? Any at all?

The Gillet Vertigo is the kind of car that they should have built 

[MD]

OK I see how you're thinking but keeping it real, Alfa at the consumer end have never made a true muscle car and frankly, I don't think the majority of Alfa owners would want a muscle car otherwise they wouldn't be owning Alfas as they do. No, I am thinking something much smaller, much more affordable along the principles of the lightweight BMW's and Lotus stuff. Smallish. Nibble. Crisp. As I hinted earlier, a modern version of the X-19, 2 litre, twin cam, 4 valves, about 220bhp pushing around 900kgs for street use only would be a blast. Not ridiculous but definitely in your face.

[dehne]

i pretty sure that fiat was selling/sold alfa to VW and thats also why there are a few more dealer popin g up in the last couple of months to, i think with VW connections and aspriatiobn for alfa we will surly be flying the flag high again soon,
and also there is rumour to alfa entering the new 2013 (used to be v8 supercars) championship can anyone spread a little light on this yet

[Brad M]

This from 2 weeks ago ...

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-11/fiat-eyes-man-scania-as-vw-repeats-alfa-interest.html

Seems as though Fiat are saying they would sell if the deal included VW's truck divisions ... not very likely I would have thought.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Rear wheel drive
No air conditioning
No radio
No electric anything except the fan, wipers and starter.
Two seats
A stick shift
Manual gearbox
Brake balancing
No insulation and no sound deadening
No McPherson strutts

I reckon this might be the closest you'll get.....

[MD]

Hahaa. Not the first I 've seen but I'll take it..