Chrysler? Some goss on what FIAT and Alfa are planning...

Oh dear. Maybe this Chrysler deal is for real.

Testing of the Milano is in its final stages ahead of a launch at Geneva in 2010. This prototype, snapped recently, appears to have a stubby gearlever. It carries an AMT designation on a window sticker, which refers to a dual-clutch transmission that Alfa is developing. Documentation released recently by Chrysler to support its claim for funds from the US government lists dual-clutch transmissions as one of the technologies it is hoping to ‘borrow’ from the Fiat Group. The Milano is also understood to be based on an all-new platform, rather than a highly modified Bravo chassis. Alfa’s replacement for the 159, the Giulia, will be built on a long-wheelbase version of the platform. It is due in late 2011. Chrysler’s planning document suggests that Alfa’s 166 flagship will make a comeback as a platform variant of the rear-drive 300C, a car based on the mid-1990s Mercedes W210 E-Class.

OK, so Milano replaces the 147, the Giulia replaces the 159 and the 166 comes back from the dead based on the ugliest block of metal on the planet (OK, maybe the Nitro is worse) the 300C. I'm definitely not in that market, anyway!

Now there will be a Chinese Alfa?

Does it matter where it's made? Probably not. It just doesn't sound as traditional somehow. Unless we dig back to Marco Polo - now there's a link.

Alfa in China will make its 166, a difficult thing for Alfa fans to digest even though the 166 hasn’t had shades of brilliance throughout its long career. The car will be manufactured by Guangzhou Auto, a Fiat and Nanjing partner in Perla production (derived from the world car Palio and Siena ed Albea project).