Motor Trend published this bit of fluff speculating what, exactly, it would take to get Alfa Romeo back over here and what a new spider ("spyder" in the article... gotta love copy editors) might look like. Their "conventional wisdom", such as it is, is leaning toward GM's new low-cost Kappa platform, on which the upcoming Pontiac Solstice will be based on.

The Alfisti are (predictably) wailing and rending their shirts over having the possibility of GM putting a hand down their "amore's" pants (all the while ignoring the current double-cup hold Fiat has on her chest). Which is crap. I firmly believe both Ford and GM are quite capable of creating excellent cars, and the whole Kappa concept is quite nifty indeed.

Personally I'd be thrilled to see a low-cost RWD spider based on this platform with, say, Alfa's 2L twinspark or (even better, if it can fit) their 3.2L V6. An engine is more than half the character of a car like this, and there isn't an auto aficianado in the world that would deny the excellence of Alfa's motors.

But will we see one here? Nah, not until all the regs get straightened out and car companies are able to cross-certify their vehicles with just one test. Then we'll be back to the 50s, when all you had to do to import a car was buy it and put it on a boat. *grin*