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Alfa Romeo officially introduced their new platform under the name ‘Giorgio’. It is mainly intended for rear wheel drive models, but it will be flexible enough to support 4 wheel drive. Main man of Fiat Chrysler didn’t really give us much information; all he said is that they will release more details in May. Maserati’s team with Philippe Kiefa in charge developed this new platform, and it will also be used in some Dodge/Chrysler models.
This platform is just one small part of Fiat’s big plan to revive Alfa Romeo, which includes several new models like successor of 159, the 169, one mid size and one big size coupe, at least three crossovers, new spider which is currently being developed in cooperation with Mazda, and of course the 4C spider.
Many are skeptical (including me) of all this talk coming from top of Fiat’s management over the last couple of years, but this info seems credible, and in all honesty if they don’t put this “huge” plan in action ASAP, Alfa might be gone sooner than we think.
Marchonnne’s plan to revive Alfa Romeo after merging with Chrysler got Italian syndicates and politicians worried because it could sever Alfa from its main market where it has been present for 115 years. Marchionne hopes that new Alfa Romeo sport models will bring global profit on a scale which Fiat’s models could never achieve.
As I mentioned above, his strategy is met by skepticism because Fiat bought Alfa in 1986 and they never reached significant success. Marchionne added that possible relocation of company headquarters and presence on foreign stock market are symbolic moves, and that he’s not willing to sell this brand to competition. VW has shown interest for Alfa Romeo in many occasions, “they can only dream”, he replied.
