"We will launch the sports cars of every segment." That was the heartening message today from Timoty Kuniskis, head of Alfa, as his boss - the soon-to-retire Sergio Marchionne - laid out his final five-year strategy for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The crux of the plan (and there is no prize for guessing this) was a long-term focus on the multinational's most profitable models; namely SUVs and hybrids. There will be more of both for Alfa, as it hopes to more than double its sales, but there will also be a next generation 8C, and a new GTV to boot.
Both are very welcome. The 8C Competizione (to give the coupe its full name) was fabulously pretty and powered by a Ferrari-sourced V8 - but it was fabuously rare, too, and arguably not an appropriate halo car for a brand limping along with sub par options like the MiTo and 147. Its replacement will be rather different. For a start it will be all-wheel-drive thanks to an electrified front axle, and the (presumably Ferrari-sourced again) twin-turbocharged engine will be in mounted in the middle of a new carbon fibre monocoque chassis. Expect it to develop at least 700hp.
"The 8C is a true supercar with a mid-engined, carbon fibre monocoque chassis and electrified AWD system. It's a car that will be born for the track here at Bolocco," said Kuniskis. Sounds expensive, doesn't it? Well, it definitely will be - but this time around at least, it ought to better fit Alfa's aspirations, which are to meet its German rivals head on with a range that takes full advantage of the firm's enviable heritage. Hence the line about a sports car in every segment.
With the Stelvio and Giulia - certainly in their respective Cloverleaf formats - Alfa can already point to concrete evidence of this strategy and the uplift in sales to justify it. Plus, there's a preordained way of plugging the gap created by having a supercar as a range-topper. "We also want a sports car as attainable as it is aspirational, so we're bringing back one of the most fabled names in Alfa history, the GTV. The Quadrofoglio model will deliver more than 600hp."
Plainly this is the two-door variant of the Giulia which has been in the works for sometime. In many ways, this is the variant to be excited about - not just because it'll be priced to appeal to a regular human being, but because it is destined to feature the 2.9-litre V6 already found in its sibling and (judging by Alfa's teaser pics) will almost certainly be eye-poppingly pretty. Moreover, to help get it over that quoted output, it will have an all-new E-Boost energy recovery system reputedly like the one used on F1 cars and torque-vectored all-wheel drive to harness it. If it can absorb both novelties and retain the Giulia's 50/50 weight distribution, it could very well be a GTV for the ages.
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