Wild-Ass Rumor Of The Day: LX-Platformed Lancia, Maserati Planned
Well, we’ve been here before. A while back we’d heard that an Alfa 169-branded, LX-platformed sedan would be built at Brampton for the US market, with a rumored $62k price point. That story seemed a bit iffy at the time, although it wouldn’t surprise us to hear it announced officially at Chrysler’s forthcoming five-year plan announcement. Especially now that we’re hearing more rumblings that Fiat will borrow the LX platform for European-market sedans to be built at the former Carozzeria Bertone plant in Turin. Automotive News [sub] reports a Lancia Thesis replacement and possibly even a entry-level Maserati will be built using Chrysler’s long-running RWD platform. Fiat has been looking for a RWD platform for some time, having planned on using Cadillac’s Sigma platform, and when things got nasty with GM, Fiat went sniffing around the Jag XF platform. Now Fiat has its rear-drive underpinnings, and Chrysler’s new “Pentastar” V6 to play with… but will Maserati settle for less than a V8? And will the American market actually be getting an Alfa-branded LX? TTAC will be on-hand for Chrysler’s five-year product plan announcement, and will report the definitive word on November 4th.
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Rumor has it that the car in that picture begged to be mercy-killed, until it was told that the Alfa grille was photoshopped onto it... Another life saved. Thank God.
As a long time Alfa owner and collector, I have no qualms about the LX platform as a basis for a new Alfa Sedan. Alfa ran the Giulia rear drive chassis from 1963 to 1995 and it was always a joy to drive inspite of a live rear-axle. BTW, the photo shopped image used a grill/badge from the 60's.
I am shocked at the ignorance of some who post on this site, of all places, when it comes to platform sharing, thinking that it means badge engineering. Kudos to psarhjinian and Autojunkie for setting us straight.