Unequal siblings - Sprint versus Caimano
11/26/2013
They have a lot in common and yet could hardly look more different - the Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint (pictured above), built in series from 1976, and the Alfa Romeo Alfasud Caimano (pictured below), presented as a study in Turin in 1971
Both were based on the technology of the Alfasud, which meant a water-cooled boxer engine and front-wheel drive.
However, while the Caimano was intended to look to the future and demonstrate future forms and solutions as a concept car, the Sprint had to be a practical everyday vehicle for the young or young at heart. No wonder the airplane cockpit fell by the wayside, as did the futuristic dashboard of the Caimano. Giorgetto Giugiaro, the creator of both vehicles, can be understood when he said of the Sprint: "When this car (he means the Sprint) is presented now, my design (i.e. the Caimano) will be eight years old."
What we also know today, however, is that the Caimano hardly set any signals and that hardly any of its design language was incorporated into later production vehicles.
