The Alfa Romeo Alfasud was a pert little family car produced by the Italian marque during the 1970s and 80s. Indeed, the Sud looked prettier and handled better than a budget car of this period had any right to. Yet neither its price nor its capabilities occupy the better part of the car's legacy. Welcome to the corroded history of the Sud - the car that should have been one of the marque's enduring successes but was most likely to be seen on the back of a low-loader heading for its final destination: the scrapyard.
The Sud, or "south", took its designation from Alfa Romeo's decision to build a new assembly line in southern Italy, a naming trick the marque has recently repeated with its 21st century supermini the MiTo, which takes its name from the Italian cities of Milan and Turin (Torino) where the car was designed and subsequently manufactured.
There was, in fact, no strong commercial imperative pushing production into Italy's largely industrial-free south. Instead, like the later decision by the British government to site DeLorean sports car production in Northern Ireland (how well that one went, too), the choice was driven by political demands.
Alfa had previously been nationalised by Benito Mussolini in the 1930s and remained a government-backed organisation until the privately owned Fiat group was coerced into adding another brand to its portfolio in the mid-80s. As arranged marriages go, the relationship between Alfa and the government was filled with compromise, the often myopic thinking of politicians being counterproductive to the long-term strategy needed to make a car maker successful.
Successive post-war political administrations had long battled with bridging the economic gap that existed between the prosperous north of Italy and the poor south. So, when Alfa needed a place to build their new small car, the Istuto per la Ricostruzione Industriale, the state-owned organisation appointed to run the company, declared that site should be north-east of Naples. It was an act designed to bring jobs to a hitherto economically deprived area, an admirable and praiseworthy notion that also pitched men more used to ploughed fields into the alien world of performance quotas.
The Sud programme was overseen by a fastidious Austrian named Rudolf Hruska, whose wide-ranging responsibilities included supervising the construction of the new factory and development work on the new car. Together with Giorgetto Guigiaro, who styled the Sud's exterior, Hruska came up with a front-wheel drive, four-cylinder car that charmed the crowds at the 1971 motor show in Turin, generating a healthy order book. There was but one problem - the factory was nowhere near completion.
Production eventually began belatedly, without a hint of irony, on April Fool's Day the following year, before becoming mired in the world of industrial disputes and manufacturing problems.
These issues began with a highly politicised workforce prone to striking at the sharp sound of a shop steward's whistle. They were compounded by the wholly political decision to embark on an Italian-Russian trade agreement that saw cheap Communist steel being shipped to Italy to be used on the Sud. They were finished by the almost complete absence of anti-corrosion treatments being applied to the car's metalwork in the manufacturing process. The problem was so bad, it was not uncommon for a Sud to be rotting before it left the factory.
Decades later, the Sud's failings still cloud opinions of Alfa Romeo ownership. Indeed, for every buyer of one of the brand's current range of handsome cars, you'll find a twice-shy Dr Doom with a dazed look in his eyes whispering the words: "It'll be gone in 60 seconds" or worse still, "you haven't, have you?". The Sud was the car that sent Alfa's reputation south. For some it has never returned.
Company%20Profile
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Race card
5pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 1,600m; 5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
6pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; 6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m
7.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 (PA) 1,400m
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
THE 12 BREAKAWAY CLUBS
England
Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur
Italy
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus
Spain
Atletico Madrid, Barcelona, Real Madrid
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
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Pakistan T20 series squad
Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shahzad, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Hafeez, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammed Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Amir Yamin, Mohammed Amir (subject to fitness clearance), Rumman Raees, Usman Shinwari, Umar Amin
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
THE DETAILS
Kaala
Dir: Pa. Ranjith
Starring: Rajinikanth, Huma Qureshi, Easwari Rao, Nana Patekar
Rating: 1.5/5
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
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ANATOMY%20OF%20A%20FALL
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WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Sreesanth's India bowling career
Tests 27, Wickets 87, Average 37.59, Best 5-40
ODIs 53, Wickets 75, Average 33.44, Best 6-55
T20Is 10, Wickets 7, Average 41.14, Best 2-12
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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GREATEST ROYAL RUMBLE CARD
The line-up as it stands for the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia on April 27
50-man Royal Rumble
Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns
Casket match
The Undertaker v Rusev
Intercontinental Championship
Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
SmackDown Tag Team Championship
The Bludgeon Brothers v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship
Sheamus and Cesaro v Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy
United States Championship
Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
Singles match
Triple H v John Cena
To be confirmed
AJ Styles will defend his WWE World Heavyweight title and Cedric Alexander his Cruiserweight Championship, but matches have yet to be announced
What is the definition of an SME?
SMEs in the UAE are defined by the number of employees, annual turnover and sector. For example, a “small company” in the services industry has six to 50 employees with a turnover of more than Dh2 million up to Dh20m, while in the manufacturing industry the requirements are 10 to 100 employees with a turnover of more than Dh3m up to Dh50m, according to Dubai SME, an agency of the Department of Economic Development.
A “medium-sized company” can either have staff of 51 to 200 employees or 101 to 250 employees, and a turnover less than or equal to Dh200m or Dh250m, again depending on whether the business is in the trading, manufacturing or services sectors.
