There's soon to be more reasons to love Alfa Romeo

Every now and then, the big cheeses of car companies release useless jargon about what is going to occur in the business' next few financial years. For the most part, it is useless guff that is uninspiring; a new 2.0L diesel that achieves a whole two more miles-per-gallon? Wow!

Most recently, it was the turn of Chrysler-Fiat. Just like all the rest, it was boring and tiring to read. Well, tiring until the name 'Alfa Romeo' popped up. My ears perked, my eyes lit and my outside world was blocked. And good news ladies and gentlemen, it seems we are in for a bit of a treat...


Let's face it; the Italian automaker is hardly at its most shining moment right now. The entire range currently consists of two hatchbacks - the Giulietta and the MiTo - which, while they are pretty nice looking, are utterly forgettable. We can't forget the recently released 4C, the fantastically flawed roadster, but it's in dire need of some siblings to play with. Luckily, that could be about to happen very soon.

Yes.

Here is the big, headline news: Alfa is going to completely focus on rear wheel drive and four wheel drive. Yes, Alfa is going back to its roots. Let's just hope it doesn't bring back the unreliability.

Alfa's CEO Harald Wester claims that Alfa is going to stick firmly to Italian roots only. So what does that translate into? Well, it means that long-rumoured Alfa-Mazda collaboration to create the new MX-5 will be ditched, but not entirely. The new car will be re-styled and will instead now wear a Fiat badge. Classy.

Yes.

At the end of the day though, it's all about the money. Naturally, it's a no-brainer to release a generic BMW 3-Series rival for the mass market, and that's precisely what Alfa will be releasing late next year. But it won't be a generic rival, more like 'Super-sexy-classy-passionate BMW 3-Series rival', if the previous 156 and 159 was anything to go by. And remember, it'll be RWD or AWD only. Yum.

Yes.

It's worth adding there will also be a full-size saloon (think BMW 5-series) before 2018. A little while to go yet, but it at least shows Alfa is going to have one hell of a makeover. Mind you, Lotus said it'll release five new models about five years ago. It never happened. But let's not fill up with pessimism.

Yes.

"By 2018" also pops up again, this time in the form of the Giulietta's replacement, coming in two body styles. I presume that's three and five door models, but we will wait and see for the true thing. Let's just hope we don't see another glorified Vauxhall Astra.

Yes.

Whether you like it or not, for a company to succeed, you need a crossover in your range. Jaguar, Porsche and even Lamborghini for Pete's sake, are all at it with their SUV's. Naturally, Alfa can see this and as a result will not just release one, but two crossovers by, wait for it, 2018. One will be smaller and sit on the Giulietta's platform, the other presumably larger, probably a Cayenne rival.

Yes.

And finally the biggest mystery of them all; a 'specialist car' will be released by that magical MMXVIII number. Top Gear reckons it'll be "a large front-engined rear-drive Spider". Let's hope it comes with some tasty engines, because the last Spider (based on the Brera) had positively awful engines.

*Squints* Yes?

Engines. There will be new ones, obviously, and the CEO has revealed a surprisingly large amount of information about them. Here they are in list form, because, y'know, it's a bit easier to read.

Engine 1 - A 1.4L four-cylinder engine. Power range: 110 - 180bhp est.

Engine 2 - A 1.8L four-cylinder engine. Power range: 170 - 320bhp est.

Engine 3 - A 2.7L six-cylinder engine. Power is capable of over 500bhp.

Diesels are slightly less well-known, but there should be four and six-bangers making power up to 350bhp.

Good luck, Alfa. You're gonna need it when you're being that bloody ambitious...