#AlfaRomeoMiTo

Car companies are pretty clever. A lot of time, research and money gets spent before a new product is created.

Alfa Romeo will be making some major changes to its lineup, as the Italian automaker will be dumping its MiTo and Giulietta hatchbacks around 2015 to make room for rear-wheel drive sedans.

As Alfa Romeo looks to return to America in the near future, the Italian automaker is currently mulling over plans for its next-generation MiTo, which could be bound for America.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne is making Alfa Romeo’s U.S. re-launch a top priority, calling it “the most difficult thing I have to do”. Alfa Romeo last sold cars in the U.S. in 1995, but the brand still has a strong image in the U.S., spurring Marchionne to focus efforts on North America.

Fiat’s 900cc TwinAir 2-cylinder turbocharged engine, currently available in the European market Fiat 500, has won critical acclaim for its performance and use of advanced technology, and the motor will soon be available in both the Alfa Romeo MiTo and Fiat Punto.

One recent discussion taking place at Autoguide HQ was how long it’s been since we’ve driven a car that was truly worth a bad review. Most cars these days are pretty good, and the true stinkers are few and far between.

Alfa Romeo’s Giulietta and MiTo hatchbacks will get an all-new, in house dual clutch gearbox, known as the TCT, which will be unveiled at this month’s Paris Auto Show.

Cara-what? The Carabinieri, Italy’s paramilitary police, are famous for their sharp liveried Alfa Romeo sedans, which can be seen driving around the streets of Rome, Genoa, Milan and other glamorous locales we know about only through movies and stereotypical depections of la dolce vita.

Gran Turismo Allegerito sounds so sexy in Italian, when it really just means “Grand Touring Light Weight” in English. The name is banal, but the GTA products in Alfa Romeo”s lineup have always been scorching. The first GTA’s dominated sports car racing in Europe and America (until the Datsun 510 came around), and subsequent cars, like the 156 GTA and 147 GTA, re-wrote the book on powerful front-wheel drive cars.

There has been plenty of speculation as to which Fiat vehicles will make it on to North American roads as a result of the merger with Chrysler, but thanks to bankruptcy filings, the mystery has been solved.