Alfa Romeo 33 Hybrid - a decade before the Toyota Prius
05/14/2023
Alfa Romeo was already working on a hybrid version of the Alfa 33 in 1986. The Toyota Prius was presented as a concept car in 1995 and sold as a production car for the first time in December 1997.
The engineers at Alfa Romeo chose the 33 Sport Wagon with a boxer engine and 95 hp as the platform. They coupled an electric motor with 16 hp and a not-so-small battery to it. The hybrid Alfa weighed around 150 kg more and could drive around five kilometers purely electrically (at a maximum speed of 60 km/h). If both motors were used, the top speed was around 140 km/h.
Three vehicles were built before the project was discontinued. There was never a fleet trial in the Italian cab sector.
If you compare the performance figures of the 33 Ibrida with those of the first Toyota Prius, then the Alfa does quite well. Nevertheless, it was probably wise for Alfa Romeo not to want to be a hybrid pioneer. After all, it also cost Toyota a lot of energy and money to establish hybrid technology on the market ...
