Alfa Romeo is bound for U.S. but details are scant

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne's ambitious new plan for struggling Alfa Romeo calls for the sporty brand to expand its lineup and switch from front to rear and all-wheel drive.

One low-volume car, the 4C coupe, is due in showrooms this month. In May, the automaker said that eight new high-volume nameplates are in the pipeline and will arrive by 2018.

But details of the products in the pipeline are limited.

In May, Harald Wester, Alfa Romeo's global CEO, promised that the new Alfa Romeos would:

• Share a rwd and awd architecture engineered for various vehicles, including compacts, full-size cars and SUVs.
• Offer gasoline and diesel engines specific to Alfa Romeo and a Green Cloverleaf high-performance engine for each nameplate.
• Invest 5 billion euros ($6.60 billion) to expand the range moving from the current two high-volume models to eight by 2018.
• Increase global sales to 400,000 vehicles by 2018 from a two-decade low of 74,000 last year.

Alfa Romeo said that a team of more than 300 engineers is working in Modena, Italy – where Ferrari and Maserati are headquartered – on these new nameplates. The team is set to employ 600 people by the end of next year. Both the chassis and engine bosses are former Ferrari employees, the company said.

Since the May presentation, Fiat and Alfa Romeo have declined to provide specifics about the new nameplates. According to two sources with direct knowledge of Alfa Romeo's plan, three nameplates – a midsize sedan, midsize SUV and large sedan – are under development, while the timing and complete description of the rest of the range are still open.

Here's Alfa Romeo's latest future product plan, according to the two sources, the company, and other sources:

4C coupe: Sales begin this month of the 174 kW rwd coupe that competes with the Porsche Cayman.

The 4C Spider, previewed by a concept in March at the Geneva auto show, is due in Europe by summer 2015 and in the U.S. by the end of that year. Despite the spider (roadster) name, this 4C is a targa model, with a small carbon-fiber roof section that has to be manually removed and stored.

Midsize sedan: Code-named Project 952, a midsize sedan will be the first of Alfa Romeo's new products and will target the Audi A6 and BMW 5 series. The sedan is scheduled to debut in European showrooms in mid-2016 and in the U.S. by the end of that year, the sources said.

Originally due in 2014 badged as the Giulia, this sedan most likely will get a different name. It is a successor to the Europe-only 159 that was discontinued in 2011.

On the sedan, Alfa Romeo will debut its new range of direct-injection gasoline engines featuring single or twin turbos. Planned are a 2.2-liter inline-four rated from 132 kW to 243 kW and a 3.3-liter V-6 with output from 295 to more than 368 kW. Meanwhile, two diesels are planned: a 88 to 155 kW inline-four and a 184 to 243 kW V-6.

Midsize SUV: This Audi Q5 rival is set to debut in the second half of 2016, sharing its underpinnings and engine range with the midsize sedan.

Large sedan: Alfa Romeo's new flagship, to rival the Audi A8 and BMW 7 series, will be a large version of the new midsize sedan. It will have powerful versions of the new engine range, but no V-8 is planned.

Roadster: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is working with Mazda Motor Corp. to develop a Fiat roadster due in 2015. Alfa Romeo is working on a larger roadster than the Mazda-based project that will use a shortened version of the midsize sedan platform.

The Mazda-based model is so tiny that it can only accommodate Fiat's 1.4-liter engine also used on the Fiat 500 range in the United States and on the Dodge Dart compact sedan.

The Alfa Romeo roadster will offer more engines, from the turbocharged 1.8-liter inline-four of the 4C coupe to a new 2.2-liter inline-four.

Midsize coupe: This derivative of the midsize sedan will comfortably seat four adults. Still under discussion is the final layout: It will be either a standard two-door coupe to rival the Audi A5 and BMW 4 series or a four-door coupe-looking model to compete with the Audi A7 and the BMW 6-series Gran Coupe.

Large SUV: Alfa Romeo has long planned a large SUV, mainly for the U.S. and China. The production model most likely will be a sibling to the Maserati Levante. Production of the Maserati SUV will begin late next year in Fiat's refurbished Mirafiori plant in Turin.

Compact hatch/sedan and coupe: The final models that Alfa Romeo is considering are undecided because of the different needs of various regions. Europe is asking for a five-door hatchback to replace the current fwd Giulietta and a station wagon variant to rival the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series wagons.

North America and Asia have no market for compact hatchbacks and wagons, so they are pushing for a four-door sedan and a compact coupe.