Alfa Romeo's lofty plans for a new 8C supercar and GTV coupe have been scrapped as the Italian luxury automaker's roadmap is reportedly being scaled back considerably.
The news came out of a Thursday investor call and presentation, during which FCA CEO and former Jeep boss Mike Manley said that Alfa's future portfolio will be "significantly scaled back, with a corresponding reduction in capital spending," Autocar reported on Friday. The new roadmap includes only four models: Giulia, Stelvio, and future B- and C-segment SUVs yet to be announced. This new roadmap leaves out the new GTV and 8C models that were part of the brand's five-year plan as recently as last summer. That plan also called for a mid-cycle update of the Giulietta sedan and an E-segment SUV, both by 2022. Apparently, those plans have also been scrapped. The now-defunct five-year plan is shown below.
Alfa Romeo 2020 roadmap
Alfa's GTV revival was to be based on the Giulia sedan, and was expected to make use of a hybridized variant of the company's twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6 with a total system output of at least 600 horsepower. The new 8C was rumored to be a mid-engine supercar with a carbon-fiber monocoque and and even more outrageous implementation of the same powertrain to produce at least 700 ponies.
The recently announced merger between FCA and France's PSA Group is likely at least partially to blame for Alfa's new, less-than-ambitious expansion plan. It is also possible that new cars will come along to the fill the void left by the cancellation of these projects once the consolidated FCA-PSA organization has time to fully flesh out its global strategy.
It's also hard to ignore the fact that the worldwide industry appears to be entering a cooling-off period. A scaled-down Alfa may simply need to wait for a more conducive climate before its performance engineers get the green light to explore these sorts of pet projects.