Alfa-Romeo cars

Gooding & Company to auction 1995 McLaren F1 and 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C Monza at Pebble Beach

The Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance will be getting an impressive lineup of vehicles as part of the Pebble Beach Auctions on August 15, 2010. Gooding & Company, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance’s official auction house, will have a 1947 Italian Championship-winning 1933 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Monza and a California-registered 1995 McLaren F1 on hand to auction off at the Pebble Beach Equestrian Center at 6pm that evening. Additional vehicles set to be auctioned include a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K, 1927 Mercedes-Benz S Boattail Speedster, 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta SEFAC Hot Rod, and a 1956 Maserati 200SI. If those aren’t enough then there is also a Gil Nickel’s 1951 Ferrari 340 America Spider, the 1958 Ferrari 250 GT Tour de France, the 1959 Ferrari 250 GT LWB California Spider Competizione, and the barn discovery 1933 Duesenberg SJ LWB Convertible.

The 1995 McLaren F1 being auctioned was originally sold to Larry Ellison who is the co-founder and CEO of Oracle. The McLaren is finished in Magnesium Silver, features a black interior, and is in the original factory-delivered form. It is one of the few McLaren supercars that is registered, titled, and certified for use in California. Gooding & Company thinks it can get between $2.5 - $3.5 Million for this supercar, so if you’re interested, be sure to come packing some serious cash.

McLaren’s 2012 MP4-12C is also set to make its North American launch at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Friday, August 13, 2010 at a private Gooding & Company event with the public viewing taking place on Saturday, August 14th and Sunday, August 15th.

2010 Alfa Romeo GT Quadrifoglio d’Oro

Alfa Romeo has had one heck of a year for 2010. They are right smack in the middle of celebrating their centennial anniversary and are taking advantage of that in a serious way. Part of their celebration was taking part in the Goodwood Festival of Speed in a “shine in the spotlight” kind of way. Not only did they bring their new Alfa Romeo 8C to the festival, but they also brought over 50 historic vehicles to showcase during the event and were given the honor of creating a statue to use as the ‘Central Feature’, a statue that’s prominently displayed every year in front of the Goodwood house. Another portion of their celebratory movement was bringing out their restyled and upgraded 159 sedan and station wagon models out to the market. Great things are happening at Alfa Romeo and they don’t want it to stop.

Now Alfa Romeo has decided to bring out a special edition model strictly for the Japanese market. It’s called the Alfa Romeo GT Quadrifoglio d’Oro (Golden Clover) and will feature custom gold badging. The exterior paint finish is a vibrant red that is mirrored in the red painted brake calipers. The exterior also features a chrome trim at the lower part of the front fascia.

Hit the jump for the full story.

Alfa Romo Vittorio Jano Concept

Alfa Romeo has already announced plans to unveil a replacement for the 159 sedan, but it will take a few more years until we see the final product. Until then, the Italian studio MPcardesign has unveiled a new concept study that is believed to be a preview version for the future model.

The concept is called Alfa Romeo Vittorio Jano and was named after the famous racing car designer Vittorio Jano (1891-1965). Its design takes a different direction than the latest Alfa Romeo models which tend to take their cues from the 8C Competizione. Instead, this design is modeled more after the Alfa Romeo 156 and 159 sedans. This is evident in the front-end modeled around the V-shaped badge and the convex surfaces.

The Vittorio Jano was created taking into consideration the actual feasibility, and was designed for a large series production. It will be followed by other virtual models from the same designer which will range from a compact sporty coupe to a sport wagon and a supercar concept.

Chopard and Alfa Romeo celebrate their anniversaries with a full range of timepieces

It’s a time for anniversaries and apparently Chopard and Alfa Romeo are making good use of this celebratory time by putting out a product as part of a festive partnership. The GT XL Chrono Alfa Romeo and the Gran Turismo XL Alfa Romeo will be the products of choice to celebrate Chopard’s 150th anniversary and Alfa Romeo’s 100th anniversary.

Both watches will come in a stainless steel case with a total diameter of 44.00 mm and a thickness of 14.36 mm. Each will feature a black dial with red hands and indexes as well as the logo of the two brands. The timepieces will operate on a 46-hour power reserve and are water resistant for up to 100 meters. The timepieces will also feature COSC-certified in-house automatic movements, anti-reflective sapphire crystal, and Chopard’s signature vintage Dunlop-inspired rubber straps.

The GT XL Chrono Alfa Romeo will be available in two different versions; one which will be available in stainless steel and the other in black DLC-coated steel. The Gran Turismo XL Alfa Romeo will see only one version to round off the timepiece line set for these two anniversaries. Each of the three timepieces will be in limited and numbered editions of 500.

As a rather strange and unlikely addition to the celebratory range, Chopard and Alfa Romeo will also be bringing out a table clock in PVD-coated steel that comes with a black leather, red-stitched case, and an additional travel alarm clock that comes with a steel case.

Happy Anniversary Guys! These two anniversaries are definitely worth setting out an entire range of timepieces for and we hope you see many more anniversaries to come!

Alfa Romeo Giulietta SS rendered

Between 1959 and 1965 Alfa Romeo produced the special edition Giulietta SS which was a 2-door sports coupe model powered by a 91 HP inline-four engine. During its life time the company only produced 2,766 units, but, now that Alfa Romeo has brought back the Giulietta name, it is expected that an SS version (Sprint Speciale) will follow adding to the number of units created for the special edition.

The anticipated SS would be fit to feature a a smooth, 2-door Gran Turismo body designed by Bertone and would be, in fact, a small 8C Competizione.

The Giulietta is offered with a choice of two gas burning engines. The first is the 1.4TB making 120 HP and the 1.4TB MultiAir that cranks out a total of 170 HP. There will also be two alternatively fueled diesel engines, the 1.6 JTDM pumping out 105 HP and the 2.0 JTDM that makes 170 HP. However it is expected that the SS version would develop at least 250 HP and feature a sportier appearance.

Exclusive: 2013 Alfa Romeo Spider Rendering

TopSpeed has some new renderings of what the next Alfa Romeo Spider will look like and it looks simply amazing. We all know that Alfa Romeos have always looked sensational and have always delivered that brilliant driving experience that can only be felt if you’ve owned one. They aren’t the fastest and they aren’t the most practical, but their unique design and lovable charm is what makes an Alfa, an Alfa.

The car is based on the Pininfarina 2uettotanta concept shown in Geneva and, based on how well it was received by the public, these new renderings might be an accurate representation of what the model will look like when it’s put into production.

Yet, as is the way with these things, health and safety folks are going to require a few changes before the car goes on sale. First off, the lights will need to be bigger and positioned higher. The LED lights that are currently on the car probably won’t be the only light source, so a blend of normal headlights and LEDs seem more logical. The air intakes need to be enlarged to ensure proper cooling for the V6 that will be under the hood.

Hit the jump to keep reading.

Alfa Romeo takes center lawn at the Goodwood Festival of Speed

Alfa Romeo’s participation at the Goodwood Festival of Speed needs no introduction or explanation. All you need to do is look at the event’s annual ‘Central Feature’, a statue that’s prominently displayed every year in front of the Goodwood house for fans to ogle at.

And because Alfa Romeo is celebrating their centenary – similar to how Audi was given dibs on the statue last year for their own centennial anniversary – Goodwood was nice enough to give them front and center (grass) billing.

Alfa’s statue will be on display for the entire weekend, and if you look at it closely, you’ll notice that it features the “new” Alfa Romeo 8C and one of its most iconic and rarest cars in existence, the P2. The latter car, just so you know, is only one of two cars in existence. This exact piece won the first world championship for grand prix cars in 1925. And yeah, by the way, that car is worth somewhere in the neighborhood of £15-20 million. Yikes.

In addition to the statue, Alfa will also be celebrating their 100th anniversary by having more than 50 of its historic vehicles, most of which can be found at the company’s Museo Storic historical museum, in attendance.

With all these historic vehicles in one place, you can’t say that Alfa Romeo isn’t pulling out all the stops to make their centennial celebration as unforgettable as it can possibly be.

Alfa Romeo sets high expectations

There must be something in the water in Italy, or at least around Alfa Romeo. The company has said that they could meet and even surpass their sales target fivefold in the next four years.

“In the past you have heard several times Alfa promising such growth figures, but this time we have the right conditions, the right products and the right synergies to get there,” Alfa CEO Harald J. Wester told the Automotive News Europe Congress here last week.

The target is 500,000 in annual sales for its soul and passion brand in 2014. That is up from 100,000 in 2009.

Wester, who is also the CEO of Maserati, says that Alfa’s new products will help the brand reach that lofty goal. The company will be launching six new vehicles in the next four years, including a five-door version of the MiTo. Webster also pointed out that the new partnership between Fiat and Chrysler will help the Italian company like never before. Alfa’s new Giuletta hatchback is based on a new platform that will be in about one million Fiat, Chrysler, and Alfa vehicles every year.

"New Alfa Romeos will be better equipped and offer more rear legroom and comfort features," said Wester.

The Fiat owned brand will be celebrating 100 years with a special event in Milan.

Abarth will also tune Alfa Romeo models

After a very successful history of selling customized Fiat models (22,000 since 2008), Abarth has decided it was time to take its chances with the Alfa Romeo models: "The brand is doing so well that we plan to start producing more performance kits for Fiats, and even some Alfa Romeo models. We won’t be working with the Mito since Alfa already has the Cloverleaf, but there are lots of other possibilities," Antonino Labate,the firm’s sales and marketing boss told Autocar.

This, though, will not happen in the near future. Until then Abarth plans to introduce Esseesse versions for the new Punto Evo Abarth and 500C models. The Esseesse package will include engine upgrades, stiffer suspension, and uprated brakes.

But, wait, there’s more. Abarth will also be introducing the company’s first stand-alone sports car model within the next two years. Also in the next two years, Abarth will be bringing a dual-clutch gearbox for the Punto and Multiair engines for the 500.

Stay tuned for more details!

2010 Castagna Coupe Targa based on Alfa Romeo 8C

After the Pininfarina, Bertone, and Zagato, Castagna is the fourth tuning house that has announced a special edition Alfa Romeo for the company’s 100th anniversary. In fact, Castagna will unveil two different models for this event with ore details on them being revealed at the Paris Auto Show.

The first Alfa Romeo model signed by Castagna was unveiled in 1910: a 24 HP Torpedo. The cooperation continued from 1910 to 1954, and then again in 1994 with the unveiling of a special one-off basis Alfa Romeo that marks the return of activity in the field of custom-built models.

The first model set to be unveiled at the Paris Auto Show is based on the Alfa Romeo 8C. It will be called the Targa Coupe and is a modern reinterpretation of the 1913 Minivan Ricotti developed on a special floor with rear-wheel drive.

Full details will be revealed at the Paris Motor Show, as we mentioned earlier, but we are sure we will receive some details here and there before then. We’ll let you know as soon as we get further details.