Alfa Romeo readies high-performance engines

Turin – Alfa Romeo plans to introduce new high-performance engines, including a range-topping V6, in a bid to reconnect the brand to its sporty heritage.

The first of the engines – two gasoline units and a diesel – will debut in Alfa’s new midsize sedan that will be unveiled in June, supplier sources told Automotive News Europe. The sedan will go on sale in 2016.

The V6 gasoline engine will have an output of up to 353 kW. The 2.9-litre direct injection unit with twin turbochargers has been re-engineered from the 3.0-litre unit that Ferrari builds for the Maserati Quattroporte and Ghibli sedans, the sources said.

The core gasoline engine will be a four-cylinder 2.0-litre direct injection turbocharged unit equipped with MultiAir variable valve timing technology. Called Global Medium Engine, it will be available in outputs from 132 kW to 243 kW and will be mated with manual and automatic transmissions with rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive applications.

The midsize sedan will also offer a new 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine with output from 99 to 155 kW.

Alfa is also working with Fiat Chrysler’s subsidiary, VM Motori, on a new version of the 3.0-litre V6 diesel unit currently offered on some Jeep and Maserati models. The top Alfa version will have its output increased to 250 kW from 202 kW. A 202 kW unit will also be offered.

There are no plans to offer the V6 diesel in the midsize sedan. It will be offered only in awd applications on a new Alfa large sedan and a new midsize SUV.

New models

Alfa is getting eight new models as part of a 5 billion euro investment aimed at boosting the brand’s global sales to 400,000 vehicles in 2018 from 74,000 in 2013.

The midsize, four-door sedan, whose size fits in between the BMW 3 and 5-series, is set to go on sale in Europe between the first and the second quarter of 2016, with U.S. sales following shortly after.

Code-named project 952, the sedan will be unveiled on June 24, 2015, the day of the 105th anniversary of Alfa's foundation, most likely at the Alfa museum in Arese, near Milan. The car's name has not been disclosed. It will not be called the Giulia as some reports have said.

Project 949, a midsize SUV similar in size to an Audi Q5 and BMW X3, most likely will go on sale by late 2016 and will be the first model to offer the new high output V6 diesel.