Talk:Alfa Romeo

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The original author of this page had inline images from the Alfa website on them. Wikipedia has a policy against including inline images from other sites - its much preferred to upload them to the wikipedia using the link.

However, even assuming that was done, there is an issue about the copyright and trademark status of those images. Alfa owns the copyright on both - they both certainly fit into the definition of "artistic work" and there is no exception for advertising. Robert Merkel

Other than that, good start on the article.

Well..., let's do without. :-(
(just to explain why) Always considered that when the firm works so much in ads to have its logo everywhere, there is an evident lack of reserve on it. However, the first included image was the original 1910's logo, that is more than 70 years old, italian limit for copyright. So, half crime, but double regret :-)

The addition discusing the Dedion suspension is utterly wrong. The car in the reference uses a live axle, with a panhard bar. The dedion was found on early (pre-war) Alfa GP cars, and showed up again in the late 70s, on the 116 series cars starting with the Alfetta and followed by the GTV6, Milano/75, and SZ/RZ. Don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I'm going to delete that section.

I've removed :

"Since the 1960s, Alfa Romeo cars have a particular "fault": second gear (manual) is very hard to enter, so it needs the driver to pass just for a fraction of second through the neutral gear (both in acceleration or in deceleration). This manoeuvre, called the "doppia" or "double Débraillée" (double declutch), distinguishes real drivers from "Sunday" ones."

Why ? - this is a "double debrayage" , - what's described isn't a double debrayage, - the double debrayage has to be done with all unsynchronized gearboxes, Italian drivers know this because the early Fiat 500s had a fully unsynchronized gearbox - the Alfa have synchronized gearboxes but it's true that on the Guilia (but not on the Alfasud for instance) the second gear synchro didn't age very well, - you need this only to enter a lower gear no need to do this to enter a lower gear. Ericd 16:58, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Models listing

Missing: Pre-war cars.

The models listings are not correct. The models listed from 2010 are not corect. We live in the year 2006, DOH!

Yeah what's up with that? An Alfa Romeo Brera II for example, what the ..? It probably will have a successor yes, but at the moment that's just guessing. And I can guarantee you that it will not be called "Brera II". I removed the models listed from 2010 and the 189. Nothing is decided about the 189 and I actually doubt they will ever build the Kamal, but again, that's guessing. LPJ 08:06, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Is the model listing not better off going on a seperate 'List of Alfa Romeo Vehicles' page along with the timlines? qwertytam 01:38, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Incomplete

Someone added "No mention of Alfa Romeo trucks, airplanes, appliances, and WWII Axis war effort" to the "Production"-paragraph, I replaced it with the {{Incomplete}}-Template. --SoWhy Talk 17:48, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Spam Links in Alfa Romeo pages

Some Alfa Romeo pages seem to be collecting Spam in the form of external links added purely to promote a certain site, increase traffic to that site, or to improve the sites ranking in search engine results. This is not just the main Alfa Romeo page, but the individual model pages as well. Some external links and sites are valid and often contain useful information. For example the Alfa Romeo UK site has an interesting history section, but others links seem to be pure spam. I've removed some of these, but need help to cleanup all the Alfa Romeo pages, as some links may have been added in good faith, and I'm a little bit reluctant to remove links from pages that I've not yet contributed to in any other way.

In some cases it might be better to add the {{Cleanup-spam}} Template and/or add a note on the Talk Page of that article or User to discuss the reason for the link, than simply remove the link.

But if we leave the links and do nothing, then we are helping the spammers and next time we do a web search for an Alfa Romeo topic and find mainly useless spam pages, we have only ourselves to blame. --Xagent86 23:25, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

An effective tool for those areas prone to spamming, is consensus for inclusion. Adding a tag such as this in the link section can help in assuring that quality links are added. Cant stop serial spammers, but you don't have to argue with them why it was removed.
<!-- ATTENTION! Please do not add links without discussion and consensus on the talk page. Undiscussed links will be removed. -->
--Hu12 08:31, 11 December 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Alfa Romeo Photo's

Please add some of the following photo's to wikicommons: http://marvin.linux-box.nl/cgi-bin/index.cgi?module=album&file=Cars/Palijs%20het%20Loo%202006 http://marvin.linux-box.nl/cgi-bin/index.cgi?module=album&file=Cars/Spettacolo%20Sportivo%20Alfa%20Romeo%202006 These galeries (especially the first) contain photo's of very special Alfa Romeo's including concept cars and pre-war racing cars.

[edit] Public company?

Well about the infobox... Alfa is not quite a public company. It is now just a part of FIAT, which is itself a public company (but the Agnelli family sill own more than 50% of it). The Italian page says "A division of FIAT Auto since 1986" as the company type. Can somebody edit it here please? I down't know how to say that technically in English... Thank you! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Andylong (talk • contribs) 10:14, 21 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Right hand drive models

The article states that right hand drive models are all manufactured in South Africa but this is not so as Alfa Romeos in Australia are imported from Italy and always have been. The only South African model I can think of that was sold in Australia was the 105 model with an automatic transmission. I'm also sure that the Alfas destined for Japan are made in Italy too. Does someone have anything else on this? Coldheartedman 09:36, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Make article better

I modified model listing section and corrected some links and footnotes. To remove "This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article." it still needs some work. There could be also separate section for Alfas other production: aircraft engines, trucks, vans, buses and trolleybuses. In de wikipedia there is something if someone could translate it here (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo#LKW.2C_Busse.2C_Flugmotoren= --Typ932 13:35, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

Done --— Typ932T | C  08:30, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

All of the 170,000 or so Alfas that have been produced this year have been made in Italy. That applys for all markets. Most (the 147, 159, 159 sportwagon, GT: about 155,000 units) are made at the Pomgliano d'Arco factory in Napoli, the remaining 15,000 (Brera, Spider) are built by Pininfarina at their Canavese factory in Piedmont. The 8c will be made in Maserati's factory in Modena. As part of Alfa Romeo's plan to expand to 300,000 plus units by 2010, new factories are planned in China, and later, in the U.S. To my knowledge the only Alfa's to have been produced outside Italy were produced in South Africa, and only then for a short period during the 1970's.

156 was assembled in Thailand..--— Typ932T | C  22:16, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Many other plants in abroad countries produced (or more precisely assembled) Alfas over the years: France (Paris, 1930s), Belgium (at the Imperia factory, 1950s), Spain (at the Fadisa factory, 1960s), Malaisia (1970s), Brazil (see FNM) are those arising from the top of my memory. You are right about SOuth Africa and Thailand as well. Sportiva (talk) 09:32, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Alfa in America?

The article states that Alfa Romeo will return to the US in 2007. While the 8c has gone on sale in the US, as this is a limited edition (just 60 are headed stateside) does it really count as the return of Alfa Romeo? Alfa Romeo plans to launch its mainstream cars in the US in the 3rd quarter of 2009...this isn't mentioned anywhere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.142.234.48 (talk) 21:55, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

"Alfa Romeo's return to United States was confirmed on May 5 2006 by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne. It will begin in 2008, by selling the 8C Competizione. In late 2009, Alfa Romeo will release the 159, Brera, and Spider after they receive a mid-life styling and technical refreshening. It is anticipated that a year or two later will see the introduction of the Kamal SUV, 169, and possibly the B-segment Junior (as a competitor for the MINI Cooper). Alfa Romeos will be sold at Maserati dealers throughout United States.[7]"

its there...--— Typ932T | C  22:16, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

I wonder if this section is relevant. Plans for an US return have been so many times announced and subsequently discarded that I would rate any information about such an issue as highly unreliable, certainly not worth being mentioned in an encyclopedia. Now I won't edit the article on my own as this is an opinion of mine, but I would appreciate comments on this. Sportiva (talk) 09:36, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] History

(part moved from main article here) There was a company named Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili in 1904, and one prototype was built with constantly variable transmission. I can not find any direct link between this company, nor any evidence that what became Alfa Romeo started out buying the corporate "shell" of the defunct company, but I find it interesting and curious that another company had the same exact name at an earlier date.

Have a look here http://www.alfaromeo.com/cgi-bin/pbrand.dll/ALFAROMEO_COM/history/history.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0263088031.1202384776@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccciadedfgfmlhhcefecejgdfkhdfjk.0&categoryOID=-1073750515

Its Alfa Romeo's history on their own site, and does mention both the original acronym and the buyout by Nicola Romeo. Onesti (talk) 11:48, 7 February 2008 (UTC)

Well, I can say for sure, with reference to the most comprehensive research published on the matter (Duccio BIGAZZI. Il portello: Operai, tecnici e imprenditori all'Alfa-Romeo 1906-1926. Milan: Franco Angeli. 1988) that the official history on the Alfa site you quote is simply false. Ugo Stella certainly didn't buy out Darracq! He was appointed CEO of the SAID, then led the foundation of ALFA with Darracq still owning more than 50% of the shares of the new company. After Darracq left the ALFA ownership, it was still not property of Mr. Stella's group...Sportiva (talk) 09:26, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Cabriolet VS Roadster

I believe Spiders are Roadster and not Cabriolets, as they are two-seaters. Netrat_msk (talk) 18:21, 29 February 2008 (UTC)