  A novel family of twelve mixture models with random covariates, nested in the
linear $t$ cluster-weighted model (CWM), is introduced for model-based
clustering. The linear $t$ CWM was recently presented as a robust alternative
to the better known linear Gaussian CWM. The proposed family of models provides
a unified framework that also includes the linear Gaussian CWM as a special
case. Maximum likelihood parameter estimation is carried out within the EM
framework, and both the BIC and the ICL are used for model selection. A simple
and effective hierarchical random initialization is also proposed for the EM
algorithm. The novel model-based clustering technique is illustrated in some
applications to real data. Finally, a simulation study for evaluating the
performance of the BIC and the ICL is presented.
