Dear Mr. Marchionne ...
06/17/2014
... or perhaps I should say Caro Signiore Marchionne? In any case, I am delighted that you want to restore the Alfa Romeo brand to its former glory after it has become a carbon copy of what it was in the sixties and seventies in recent years. I read that you want to invest five billion euros and launch eight new independent models by 2018.
Well then, if you need inspiration, just take a look at what the brand produced in its glory days.
There's the Alfa Romeo Giulia(pictured above), for example, the sleek mid-size saloon with its distinctive design that made every sporty family man check the balance in his bank account.
Or the Alfetta, a modern sedan with a transaxle that combined the best driving performance and elegant design as a 1600 to two-liter.
And then there was the conventionally built "Berlina" Alfa Romeo 1750 and Alfa Romeo 2000, built from the end of the 1960s, which combined generous space with the sporty nature of the Giulia.
And there were also many great coupés, such as the Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint with its crisp, compact design ...
... or the luxurious Gran Turismo Alfa Romeo 2600 Sprint.
You won't be able to call on Bertone to help you with the design work, even though this coachbuilder was of course closely linked to the brand's success in the 1960s, but there are certainly talented designers in Italy today.
Sportiness, elegance, technical balance and functional versatility should be attributes that the new vehicles possess.
But even if you get everything right, it will take years for the old fans to regain their faith in the Alfa Romeo brand, and of course we hope you have that much "stamina".
In the meantime, we recommend our brand page "Alfa Romeo" for further research ...
