Alfa Romeo

"The Volkswagen Group styling czar this month was awarded an honorary degree in design from Bologna University. It comes 16 years after he, like so many Italians, he had to leave the country to achieve global success in his field.

De Silva’s departure could have been prevented. In 1998 he was looking for a new challenge after leading design at Fiat’s Alfa Romeo brand for 12 years. He asked Fiat’s CEO at the time, Paolo Cantarella, whether a promotion was coming. Cantarella said de Silva’s future was with Alfa.

At 47, de Silva knew he could climb higher. Then he got a call from Ferdinand Piech, who was then VW Group CEO. Piech wanted de Silva to lead design at the Seat brand.

Today, Seat is one of eight car brands, three truck brands and one motorcycle brand under de Silva’s control. His empire of design centers stretches around the world and employs almost 1,700 people.

An even more telling sign of the level of respect de Silva has earned was that VW Group CEO Martin Winterkorn and the company’s chief engineer, Ulrich Hackenberg, both gave up their Saturdays to be in Bologna for their colleague’s big day.

Italy is desperately trying to lure back young, talented professionals who have been forced to leave because of the country has so few jobs for up-and-coming 20-somethings and 30-somethings. In April, 43.3 percent of the young people in Italy were unemployed, almost twice the European Union average.

At 63, de Silva is not in the age bracket of the people currently being asked to return home. Nevertheless, his story is familiar in Italy because the country’s loss has been VW Group’s gain for nearly two decades."Em Walter de Silva: Italy's loss, VW's gain
Actual.
 
Pessoal, desculpem a duplicação anterior, mas por vezes uso um software que faz de mim um verdadeiro Android... [:D]

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Mrodrigues disse:
(...)El peso de la leyenda y del pasado
(...)
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"(...) Durante la presentación de los nuevos Giulietta QV y MiTo QV, la gente de Alfa Romeo tenía una patata caliente entre manos. Nos estaban hablando de dos productos con plataforma Fiat, con muchos elementos Fiat. Dos productos de los que el propio Marchionne ha renegado en cierto modo, queriendo presentar un plan de "borrón y cuenta nueva". Y al mismo tiempo, la gente de la marca tiene que venderlos y defenderlos, al menos dos años más, a la espera de "la nueva era".

Es complicado. Y los responsables de la macar, con la mejor de las intenciones, buscaban ese hilo conductor, esa conexión pasado-presente para esos dos productos, que enlazaran al Giulietta QV actual con sus ancestros, y especialmente con el Giulia GTA. Pero esa conexión no existe.(...)

No existe porque donde el Giulia GTA te transmitía sensaciones, te hablaba a través de sus mandos, y contaba con una técnica y una estética propias, el Giulietta QV es un coche mucho más genérico. No, no es malo. Ya os lo conté en la prueba: Es un coche adecuado. Pero no destaca, no emociona, no apasiona en sus maneras, en su forma de moverse, en cómo te comunica el estado del asfalto (o directamente, cómo no te lo comunica).

Curiosamente, por coincidencias del destino, a la presentación del Giulietta Quadrifoglio Verde me tocó acudir justo tras devolver el M235i de BMW. Y lo único que podía pensar mientras "afotaba" los viejos mitos de Alfa Romeo, mientras babeaba los cupés de la serie 105 y 115, era que el M235i tenía mucho más que ver con estos coches de lo que se emparentaban con el Giulietta QV.(...)

Así llegué al convencimiento de cómo Alfa debería respetar su pasado. Su ADN, y construir su futuro. Mientras Alfa vendía sus Giulia GTA y triunfaba con ellos, BMW tenía sus 2002 tii. Aquellos dos coches eran equivalentes en muchas cosas y distintos también en muchas otras cosas. Ambos tenían una enorme influencia de Giorgio Giugiaro (de eso hablaremos otro día), ambos eran cupés deportivos relativamente económicos, ligeros, y muy pasionales de conducir.

Ahora, "chopotocientos años" después, en 2014, BMW tiene su Serie 2, que es una oda a todo lo que hizo grande a aquellos BMW de la serie "02". Y Alfa Romeo tiene, por el momento, a su Giulietta. Lo mires por donde lo mires, BMW hace una fiel reinterpretación en clave moderna de su viejo pasado, mientras Alfa Romeo se ha ido a otro sitio del mercado, con un producto "más Golf", más genérico que otra cosa.(...)"
 
Alfa Romeo MiTo QV 2014 - Top Gear teste

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What’s this – two hot Alfas in a week? Quite correct.

We tested the Mito’s big brother earlier this week, the Giulietta, so now it’s the little one’s turn. And it’s the same deal as the Giulietta: Alfa has re-launched the Cloverleaf Mito, only this time it’s calling the hot version the Quadrifoglio Verde (“Green Four Leaf Clover” in Italian).
Prices start from £20,120 and for that you get all the usual hot hatch additions – flat-bottomed steering wheel, deeper bumpers and rear spoiler, Quadrifoglio Verde badge on the flank and grippy seats.

So is it just a styling exercise?
Definitely not. The QV badge is sacrosanct to the Italians, so they’ve done some engineering tweaks as well.

The engine is a 1.4-litre turbo unit, producing 168bhp and 184lb ft at just 2,500rpm. These are perfectly respectable numbers and they give a clue as to where this is being pitched – this is not an out-and-out fire-breather, more a warmed-up hatch.

As such, the 0-62mph time of 7.3 seconds is reasonable (thanks to the new six-speed dual-clutch gearbox), and half a second off the Mini Cooper S. But that’s the only highlight, because the rest of the Mito’s engine is disappointing. Alfa has tried to make it sound interesting – a trick which they succeeded in pulling off with the Giulietta – but the Mito is bland. Think of a dreary four-cylinder drone and you’ll be about right. If anything, it’s just plain noisy – Alfa should have dialled back the resonance because as it stands, it doesn’t sound interesting when you rev it, plus it’s too noisy for gentle cruising.

What about the chassis?
We’re afraid that’s also a disappointment.

Alfa has fitted adjustable dampers to the Mito to try and make it the best of both worlds – comfortable and exciting. But they don’t do either. It’s compromised no matter what sort of journey you’re on. Plus, the steering is numb and has an odd weighting to it, so that it’s not consistent throughout the turn.

Are there any plus points?
We’re struggling to think of any, aside from the dual clutch gearbox which is quick and accurate, if hardly exciting.

The Mito was a reasonable alternative to the mainstream rivals when it was launched, but that was back in 2008. Now, it feels old. It’s like Alfa has desperately tried to drag it into 2014, but has done so without investing enough time and effort on it, just a bit of window-dressing. It really needs a wholesale change, and this QV spit and polish isn’t enough.

The Giulietta QV is a better bet. If you really want a hot Alfa, head for that one.

4/10
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Eu comprava, e fazia dele uma estatua para colocar na parede da minha sala. Ficaria muito bem… vermelhinho, sem o interior, com os vidros pintados de preto….
 
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