Good post Enz.
Alfa is going backwards at a rate of knots unfortunately. The marque has been haemorrhaging money so badly, that they have two, yes count them, just two new models in their entire range, the Giulietta and Mito. Production of the 159/Brera/Spider according to Alfa's five-year plan ceases in mid-2011.
FIAT spa's decision to buy into Chrysler and take advantage of their distribution in the USA in anticipation of a planned re-entry, coupled with a parts/technology swap (read the Pentatstar V6), essentially means that Alfa will never again build its own engines. The non-Chrysler engines will indeed be FIAT Powertrain developed units (1750 tbi, the 1.4 Multi-air etc etc).
It is a great shame, but it's an economic reality finally forced on the marque after a decade of poor sales.
Some say that the V.A.G. group may be the answer to Alfa's woes. I remain sceptical. It all comes down to where V.A.G. will position Alfa in their range. If they're going to sell it as a Latin alternative/replacement to their SEAT brand, using hand-me-down VW tech, forget it. Alfa may as well stay with FIAT.
If however they move Audi further upstream to compete more with Mercedes and let Alfa occupy Audi's position taking on BMW - could be very interesting. Alfa using lightweight aluminium chassis' with a 2.5 litre turbo charged 5-cylinder present in the Audi TTRS. 0-100 in under 5 seconds. Yes please.
Sadly, a pipedream. The new Giulia will share Chrysler tech, unless V.A.G. come a knocking sooner.
P.S. And the Brera isn't rubbish, even if it has a GM block.....lol