Alfa Romeo’s arrival on US shores has now been delayed a full decade, and we might finally be able to shed light onto the reason why this is happening. You see, this will be spearheaded by the new 4C sportscar, but Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne is a very demanding boss to work for, and rightfully so.
For a while now, we thought that the 1.75-liter turbocharged engine from the Mito QV was only ever going to be good enough for the 4C sportscar if it was going to be cheap. But according to Auto News Europe, Fiat has given the go-ahead for Alfa to build a new high-performance 1.8-liter 4-cylinder engine with both transversal and longitudinal applications.
We’re not talking about a more powerful version of the existing 1.75-liter, but a completely new unit with an all-aluminum construction, direct injection and turbocharging. This sounds like a step finally taken in the right direction by the automaker that has stuck with big V6 for so long. The exciting news is that the unit is expected to kick up a storm of 300 horsepower.
Seeing as Alfa has worked hard to make the 4C as light as possible, this should be enough to push the car uncomfortably close to its Porsche Cayman and Audi TT rivals in their best variants.
After the introduction in the 4C, most likely in mid-2013, the unit will see volume applications in the Giulia sedan and wagon that will replace the 159 in the early part of 2014. Again, this sounds a whole lot like some sort of performance version of the car, and we really hope Alfa learns from the mistakes it made with the 147 and offers this as an AWD or RWD machine.
The new 1.8-liter unit will be assembled in the Pratola Serra plant in Italy at the begging of 2013.
"This is an extremely important step for Alfa Romeo, as we continue to reposition our brand and prepare it for global distribution. The United States remains our primary objective as we prepare for a 2013 introduction of our models," Harald Wester, Fiat's chief technology officer and head of the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands, said in a statement.
We’re not talking about a more powerful version of the existing 1.75-liter, but a completely new unit with an all-aluminum construction, direct injection and turbocharging. This sounds like a step finally taken in the right direction by the automaker that has stuck with big V6 for so long. The exciting news is that the unit is expected to kick up a storm of 300 horsepower.
Seeing as Alfa has worked hard to make the 4C as light as possible, this should be enough to push the car uncomfortably close to its Porsche Cayman and Audi TT rivals in their best variants.
After the introduction in the 4C, most likely in mid-2013, the unit will see volume applications in the Giulia sedan and wagon that will replace the 159 in the early part of 2014. Again, this sounds a whole lot like some sort of performance version of the car, and we really hope Alfa learns from the mistakes it made with the 147 and offers this as an AWD or RWD machine.
The new 1.8-liter unit will be assembled in the Pratola Serra plant in Italy at the begging of 2013.
"This is an extremely important step for Alfa Romeo, as we continue to reposition our brand and prepare it for global distribution. The United States remains our primary objective as we prepare for a 2013 introduction of our models," Harald Wester, Fiat's chief technology officer and head of the Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands, said in a statement.
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