Rumorpile: Alfa Romeo To Bid Adieu To Front-Wheel Drive Models

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

July 19, 2013

Welcome back to another edition of As The Alfa Romeo Turns.

This time we have a new report from the UK's Car that says Alfa Romeo will be dumping all of their front-wheel drive models in 2015 and begin focusing on rear-wheel drive models. This decision comes from Fiat and Chrysler boss Sergio Marchionne who wants to align the Italian brand as a direct competitor to the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Moving to rear-wheel drive would help out in this regard.

"Sure, design is important, Italian flair is important, top-notch quality is important. But it is impossible to challenge Audi, BMW and Mercedes if you cannot match the Germans in terms of vehicle dynamics and driving pleasure," said a source.

So what is the plan? Well, Alfa will be dropping their front-wheel drive models (MiTo and Giulietta). Alfa will also work closely with Maserati to develop new rear-drive modular platform that will underpin four new vehicles; two sedans and two SUVs. The first vehicle is the long-delayed Giulia. Originally conceived to use Fiat's CUSW platform and be a competitor to the 3-Series, the Giulia is expected to go with a rear-wheel platform. This has caused the Giulia to be delayed again to 2015. Next is the Alfetta which will take on the likes of the 5-Series and E-Class. This will arrive in 2016.

The two SUVs are due in 2017 and 2018. One SUV will be about the size of the BMW X1 and the other will be around the size of the X3 and Audi Q5.

Source: Car

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.