As the calendar shifts, so do Alfa Romeo's plans. At the LA Auto Show, Harald Wester, head of Alfa Romeo, said the brand would unveil its second US model – after the 4C – next June, but he wouldn't identify the type of car. A report in Automotive News Europe, quoting sources, says that it will be a midsize sedan in the mold of the erstwhile 159 that was supposed to become the Giulia but now has a new brief and perhaps a new name.

"Giulia" should be familiar because we've been hearing about it for more than three years – in fact it was 2011 when it was thrown back on the drawing board for a complete redesign. Last year the plan – or the anonymously-sourced bits of the plan that we kept getting – were for the platform to go rear-wheel drive and do duty for both a BMW 3 Series and 5 Series competitor. ANE's latest intel is that the coming midsize sedan will be come in between the 3 Series and 5 Series – a strategy used by the original Cadillac CTS – slotting in beneath a "flagship sedan" that would fit between the 5 Series and 7 Series. That would appear to contradict a direct challenge to the entry-level segment's standard-bearer, and perhaps the M3, too.

Those two Alfa sedans would be part of an eight-model onslaught happening over the next four years, which is a new matrix compared to April of this year when that was reported to be six models over the next five years. ANE says work has started on three of them, a midsize SUV said to be the third. The push is to get Alfa to 400,000 annual sales – 100,000 more than the April target – with the US accounting for 150,000 of that.

(Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV says:

* Will invest more than 500 million euros to produce two new Alfa Romeo engines at Termoli, Italy plant

* Both engines are for future Alfa Romeo models and as such will play an important role in the brand's global relaunch

* The first engine is an advanced, high output 4-cylinder engine developed for Alfa Romeo. The second is a Ferrari-derived 6-cylinder engine developed specifically for Alfa Romeo

We bring you the very first pictures of Alfa Romeo's all-new Giulia sports sedan, almost 24 hours ahead of the car's official reveal, thanks to one of our readers.

Our tipster says that what we're looking at he is the Quadrifoglio Verde (QV) sports model, and we think he's right. We'd go on a limb and say that it's probably powered by Alfa Romeo's all-new, Ferrari-sourced V6 engine. The other powertrain announced by the Italian brand for the new Giulia is a next-generation turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline mill.