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Porsche to supply engines to Alfa Romeo: rumour

By Brett Davis |

According to recent rumours circulating throughout the German auto industry, Porsche is apparently ready to supply future Alfa Romeo vehicles with a four-cylinder boxer engine.

The engine in question is currently being developed for the upcoming baby Porsche Boxster which will enter the market as the cheapest and smallest Porsche sports car. According to the rumours, Alfa Romeo could receive direct assistance from Volkswagen and Porsche in the form of this engine supply but the Italian marque has rejected the offer.

Volkswagen has openly expressed its desire to buy Alfa Romeo from Fiat but Fiat boss, Sergio Marchionne, is standing firm. Marchionne has said, “As long as I am CEO of Chrysler and Fiat, Mr. Piech will never have Alfa Romeo.”

Even so, the German company is apparently insistent on pursuing the Italian marque and is ready to shoehorn the new flat four into upcoming Alfa models. A Fiat spokesman recently told Autocar in the UK, “We shut the door in their [VW’s] faces and now they’re trying to get in the window.”

It’s all a part of Volkswagen’s plan to be the biggest automotive manufacturing group by 2018. Company Chairman, Ferdinand Piech, recently announced to the automotive press that Volkswagen could quadruple current Alfa Romeo sales if it could acquire the marque.

It is all just a rumour at this stage though. It might be a long shot, but we’d certainly welcome the idea of Alfa returning to its roots and bringing out a boxer-engined Alfa, like the old Alfa Romeo 146, 33 and Alfasud.


 
  • Ox

    Sounds like Herr Piech will get his way after all. First bate Alfa with Porsche engines then real the whole lot in.

  • Ohh Noo

    Alfa should Grab the PDK transmission as well !! and then ask Porsche about build quality and then Reliability and then and then ………..

    • Qikturbo

      Then Porsche should ask Alfa Romeo about car design,because Porsche is one of the laziest car companies
      in terms of design,churning out the same boring looking 911s every year.

  • Carlo Di Paolo

    B.S.

    • Skybreak

      Agreed – wishful thinking perhaps, but more likely complete B/S started by someone wondering how widely their “rumour” would be reported.

      Alfa can make make perfectly suitable engines on their own, and they can tap into the expertise at Maserati and Ferrari anytime they want.

      • bangel

        Really , take at look at the gutless range of motors currently offered , most models barely get to 100k in less than 8 secs except for the giulietta qv .

        The so called sporty bera and spider are so slow 8.8 secs wow , beaten by most jap mid sizers .

        Bit to expensive putting ferrari motors in an alfa , to fragile for the rough and tumble world .

        • jojo

          Fiat Group Powertrains:

          First to market with Multijet Commonrail Turbodiesel (Then sold under liscence to Bosch-Germans)

          First to market with Selespeed Gearbox in mass production car

          First to market with Multiar engines with higher power outputs, lower fuel and co2 outputs compared to rivals (One generation ahead of VW supercharged/turbocharged combination TSi engines which VW will be phasing out in 2012 due to warranty costs/failures and complications)

          Even this Turbo/Supercharged engine design was a knock off from Fiat who developed it for the Lancia S4 rally/road car in the mid 80′s.

          FiatGroup doesnt need VW for anything.

          • Reply

            Let’s also not forget that Fiat and Alfa pioneered variable valve timing technology which Honda then took to develop VTEC from.

  • Roger Ramjet

    Will it be as good as the Porsche designed unit in the Holden Epica?

  • Baddass

    Haha, how long did it take the bloke responsible for this image to paste the Porsche badge off-centre on the Alfa hood?

  • LancerTech

    Remember when Mitsubishi sold Porsche balance shaft engine technology?

  • GooSE

    The engine is the heart of any Alfa.
    If the engine isn’t an Alfa, the car isn’t an Alfa

    • drewh

      Then Alfa’s haven’t been Alfa’s since the 75TS (4cyl) or 147GTA/156GTA/GT3.2

      Id rather a Porsche engine than a Holden engine

  • giorgio

    This is only VW trying to take a bit of the wow out of the car and push it into their own court. Alfa Romeo is key of the future strategy of Chrysler Fiat. Using same components and underpinning such as Dodge Charger – Chrysler300 – Alfa Romeo – Maserati. The same applies to SUV’s – with Jeep – Dodge – Alfa Romeo – Maserati. I can just imagine an Alfa Romeo with the new pentastar V6 – turbo etc. So VW is only trying to get a bit of the show. Just on a side note, its actually Fiat with its IVECO company that is buying the MAN and Scania truck devision from VW. he he he

    • drewh

      IVECO don’t have 2 cents (or lira) to rub together, so how in the hell are they going to buy Scania & MAN/VWCV Brazil?

      Stop talking rubbish.

  • Mike

    Could it be that Piech is talking to Fiat’s shareholders, not to Marchionne? If Alfa continues to lose money, the shareholders might decide at some point that selling it is a good idea.

    Bringing Porsche into this may be intended to persuade the shareholders of the inadequacy of Alfa’s current use of Fiat platforms, and by extension of the lack of hope for the brand under Fiat’s stewardship.

  • cowfy

    how silly.alfa owned by stuttgart.thats likes eskimos going in bikinis.a good laugh but apparently someone is missing the joke.

  • AlfaGTman

    Why is being VW group owned a bad thing?

    Look at how Lamborghini has turned around in recent years. Italian flair with German reliability.