Showing posts with label Alfa Romeo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alfa Romeo. Show all posts

Monday, 26 April 2010

Zagato Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa: Official Specs and Photo Gallery from Villa D'Este


The Zagato-penned and developed Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa was finally revealed in a world premiere at this past weekend's prestigious Villa D'Este Concours.

As Zagato pointed out, the car is not a design exercise but a one off racing special that was commissioned by German collector Martin Kapp who owns, among other Alfa Romeos, an SZ coda tonda and SZ coda tronca, TZ, and TZ2, Junior Z and S.Z.

Inspired by its 1960s predecessors, the original Alfa TZ and TZ2, the TZ3 Corsa is based on a mono shell carbon fibre tubular chassis, coupled with a tubular frame and a lightweight aluminum body.

Power comes from the Alfa 8c Competizione's 4.2-liter V8 engine that develops 420-horsepower. According to Zagato, the racing car tips the scales at 850kg or 1,874 lbs, and is capable of accelerating from zero to 100km/h (62mph) in under 3.5 seconds while reaching a top speed in excess of 300km/h or 187mph.

Special thanks to Maurizio from Motorionline for the 'live' Photos!


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Thursday, 22 April 2010

New Photos of Zagato's One-Off Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa


Zagato has released two more pictures of its latest creation, the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa that takes inspiration from the original Alfa TZ and TZ2 and commemorates Alfa's centenary.

The Italian carrozeria claims that the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa is not a design exercise study but a one-off race car that has been commissioned by an unnamed enthusiast from Germany.

We already know that the car is based on a mono shell carbon fibre tubular chassis, coupled with a tubular frame and a lightweight aluminium body, but today we also learned that it will be fitted with a V8 engine, most likely from Alfa's 8C Competizione special.

The Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa will be given its world premiere at the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este this weekend, so it won't be long before we get the 'Full Monty' on the car.

Via: Autoblog.it


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Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Alfa Romeo's 2010-2014 Product Plans Include New Giulia and Spider, but no Succesor for Brera. U.S. Sales Start in 2012


Here we go again; the Fiat Group today announced plans to revive Alfa Romeo with a raft of new models that will also play a key role in the relaunch of the brand in the U.S. market (how many times have we heard that before?) by 2013.

Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne said that Alfa Romeo will launch seven new models from 2010 to 2014 starting with the new Giulietta that will receive an extensive facelift in 2014.

The next newcomer from Alfa will be a replacement for its BMW 3-Series rivaling 159 that will be named Giulia.

Set to arrive in 2012, the Giulia will be based on an existing Fiat platform (most likely, a wider and longer version of the Guilietta's new platform). It will be offered in four-door sedan and station wagon variants and according to the plan, it will mark the return of the Alfa Romeo brand in the States.

The same year will see Alfa introducing a facelift version of its three-door MiTo supermini and a Chrysler Group-based compact-size SUV that will be produced and sold in the States.

In 2013, Alfa will add a five-door model to its MiTo range and launch the car in the U.S. The plan also includes the presentation of a new Spider that will be produced in Europe and the U.S.

There has been speculation that the new Spider will be based on a rear-wheel drive platform derived from Mercedes Chrysler, but this has yet to be confirmed officially. Either way, we hope it looks a lot like Pininfarina's gorgeous 2uettottanta concept (see details and pics here) that was revealed at last month's Geneva gathering.

Finally, in 2014, Alfa Romeo will present a Chrysler Group-based mid-size SUV. Like its smaller brethren, this model will also be manufactured in America.

It's also worth noting that Alfa Romeo's 2010-2014 product plan does not include a replacement for the GT 2+2 coupe, the Brera and the long-gone 166 sedan. The latter was supposed to be replaced by the 169 in 2009 while Alfa's previous plans mentioned the introduction of a compact SUV in 2010 - that said, don't take Fiat Group's product plans for granted, or at least not all of them...




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Monday, 19 April 2010

Zagato Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa: First Official Photo of One-Off Special


What you're looking at here is the first official teaser picture of Zagato Atelier's Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa that will be fully unwrapped at the prestigious Villa D'Este Concours d'Elegance motor show on April 25.

Contrary to initial reports, the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa is not a concept study but a one-off race car that was commissioned by an unnamed enthusiast from Germany.

According to Zagato, the TZ3 Corsa is based on a mono shell carbon fibre tubular chassis, coupled with a tubular frame and a lightweight aluminium body.

The Italian coachbuilder says that the race car not only takes inspiration from the 90 year collaboration between the two brands, but it also pays homage to Scuderia Ferrari of 20's and 30's, Alfa Corse of 40's and 50's, Autodelta of 60's and 70's up to the latest Scuderia Zagato of 80's and 90's.



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Thursday, 8 April 2010

Zagato Readying New Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa Concept for Villa D'Este Concours


With Alfa Romeo midway through its centenary year, Italian coachbuilder Zagato is adding to the automaker's centenary celebrations with the world premiere of a new concept sports car at this month's 2010 Villa D'Este Concorso d'Eleganza.

Dubbed the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Corsa, the concept model is said to pay homage to special Alfa TZ models of the past. No other details were released on the car, but with the show just around the corner (April 23-25), we won't have to wait long to find out what it's all about.


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Friday, 26 March 2010

Born in the USA: Lancia, Fiat, and Alfa Romeo Jobs Coming to North America


Automotive News reports that Fiat's Italian manpower is being cut by 5,000 (approximately 6.25% of its total workforce in Italy) while "increasing domestic production to 900,000 units in 2012 from 661,100 units in 2009."

Fiat's response: "Media speculation about the plan's contents [is] 'premature and groundless.'"

Part of the supposed shift involves a decrease in models built, from fourteen to nine, while ramping-up production of the survivors.

Hit really hard will be Fiat's plant in Mirafiori, Turin. "Mirafiori builds the Fiat Punto Classic, Idea and Multipla models, the Lancia Musa and Alfa MiTo. Fiat is remodeling the plant to use a single line to build the Alfa Romeo MiTo and two new small minivans to replace the Idea and Multipla."

The Mirafiori plant is set to ax nearly 50% of its 5,840 workers; that's in addition to the 1,400 that are getting the boot in Termini Imerese, Sicily (where the Lancia Ypsilon is built), the 1,500-2000 in Pomigliano (being outfitted to built only the Panda replacement), and 500 workers at the Cassino plant.

Fiat is said to be bringing some production over to Chrysler's North American manufacturing facilities, which would then export the vehicles back to Europe.

Numbers from Chrysler are in the neighborhood of 270,000 Fiats, Lancias, and Alfas (plus 100,000 500s in Mexico) built on this side of the Atlantic by 2014.

Here's how the models will likely break down:

Alfa Romeo (in America): four models including the Giulia (sedan and touring variants of the 159 successor), a "large crossover", and a big, rear-wheel-drive 166 successor (likely to use Chrysler's LX platform).

Lancia (in Europe): using re-badged Chrysler and Dodge products, Lancia wants to remain (or is that become?) "near premium" by using the 300C (ok), the new-Sebring lineup (wait and see), and the Voyager (why won't you just die?).

Fiat (in Europe): will use the Dodge Nitro (somehow I don't see it winning people over), and Dodge's Journey crossover.

Thoughts on this newly globalized Fiat plan? You know where to go (it's down).

- By Phil Alex

Via: Automotive News


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