Fiat appears interested in making the most of Chrysler’s paltry product dowry by using one of the Pentastar’s promising future products, the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, as the basis for a new Alfa Romeo SUV. Although at this point our inside sources remain little birdies and voices telegraphed via cups on a string, the notion of an Alfa SUV makes some sense for a brand not satisfied with its current share of the European market, and with designs on returning to North America.

Proving that evolution never stops, even among things that appear to be rather highly evolved already, is the upcoming 2011 Aptera 2e. The space-age three-wheeler may have been delayed “to align with financing realities,” but while Aptera’s suits are out shaking money from trees (and the government), the engineers and designers have been busy evolving the two-seater to make it more livable once it is finally ready for prime time.

Were the 2007 Acura RDX given a Chinese zodiac sign, its birth would fall under the year of the Fire Dog. Astrological traits include loyalty, passion, intelligence and, with a bit of speculation on our part, the ability to shoot flames out of one's mouth while barking.

The Italians are not enjoying this rumour at all: Volkswagen could be looking at a purchase of Alfa Romeo if Fiat were to sell the struggling brand.

The patron saint of gearheads must be smiling upon us. Hot on the heels of the announcement that we’ll be able to buy the Fiat 500 by the end of the year comes word that Alfa Romeo is planning a return to these shores.

The patron saint of gearheads must be smiling upon us. Hot on the heels of the announcement that we’ll be able to buy the Fiat 500 by the end of the year comes word that Alfa Romeo is planning a return to these shores.

During World War II, Allied bombing heavily damaged the Alfa factory in Portello, Italy, and production was slow to resume after 1945. The 6-cylinder passenger and sporting cars of the late 1940s and early 1950s were large and not particularly fast. But in 1951 Alfa introduced a smaller, less expensive 4-cylinder car called the 1900.

WHO cares, one might reasonably ask, about the centennial of an automaker that stopped selling cars in the United States 15 years ago and didn’t sell many in the decades before that?

The beauty of Alfa Romeo is that it embodies the same sort of Italian flair as Ferrari and Maserati, but in a smaller, more accessible package.