From the creator of the Alfa Romeo Vittorio Jano Sedan and Sport Wagon concepts comes this new design study for a classy-looking GT. Named after Giuseppe Merosi, a famous Italian automobile engineer Giuseppe Merosi who worked for Alfa Romeo (then named A.L.F.A.) in the beginning of the previous century, the prototype presented by Marco Procaccini from MPcardesign is a four-seater sports coupe designed to feature a much missed by Alfa Romeo fans, rear-wheel drive layout.
The styling of the Giuseppe Merosi has a similar feel to Marco's previous work, the Vittorio Jano, combining hard edges with curved surfaces and a pronounced Alfa Romeo grille. According to the designer, the car would measure around 4,300mm in length, 1,810mm in width and 1,320mm in height.
Welcome to the story of the Alfa Romeo Nuvola Prototipo, one of the most gripping concepts to wear the famous Visconti Serpent badges in the past two decades. Unveiled for the first time at the Paris Motor Show in 1996, the Nuvola Prototipo was named after Tazio Nuvolari, the legendary Italian motorcycle and racecar driver who competed for Alfa in the 1930s.
The Nuvola had all the essential ingredients of a proper Alfa Romeo sports coupe - a beautifully crafted body and interior, classic proportions, a dedicated chassis and enough power to put a smile on your face.
Of course we would have preferred a rear-wheel drive setup, but its four wheel drive layout is much less of a compromise (for a sports car) than if power was transferred exclusively to the front axle.
Unlike modern days Alfas that are built around less exciting (8c Competizione excluded) hardware pulled out of the Fiat Group’s parts bin, the Nuvola made use of a separate, tubular spaceframe to which the mechanical components were attached. The designers' plan was to use the same architecture on different bodies to cover various niches.
"A welded high strength steel tubing spaceframe brings the benefits of lightness, high torsional rigidity, excellent ride quality and maximum passenger protection as well as low cost of manufactures," Alfa said at the time.
Power came from a front-mounted, twin turbocharged version of Alfa's standard 2.5-liter V6 delivering 300 ponies to all four (18-inch) wheels, with the car said to complete the 0 to 100km/h sprint in the low five second-range.
The Nuvola was penned at Centro Stile Alfa Romeo under the watchful eye of Walter de Silva, who is currently Head of Volkswagen Group Design. As with any proper sports car, the goal of the designers was to stir emotions.
Measuring 4.29 meter (169 inches) in length, the Nuvola is sleek yet muscular, classic yet modern - all at the same time. The two seater show car made several references to Alfa Romeos of the past from the 8C 2900 to the 6C 2500 Villa d’Este, the Giulietta Sprint Speciale and the 1900 Sprint. Notable features include the futuristic luminous diode technology used for the slim, horizontal rear lights and the tires, which had a special pattern created for Alfa Romeo by Michelin.
The 'favoloso' exterior was matched by an equally stunning two-tone interior crafted in leather with aluminum and chrome accents. Sport pedals and a wooden steering wheel are also on the menu, with a finely crafted leather bag acting as storage between the driver and passenger.
While the concept never made it to production, it's styling legacy lives on as the Nuvola prefigured the shapes and surface treatments of Alfa Romeo’s -then- new aesthetics. Take a close look at the pictures and you’ll discover design cues that can even be seen in today's Alfa Romeo models.
Overall, we'd say it's pretty impressive how well the styling of the concept has withstood the test of time and a pity that Fiat's higher-ups never gave it the green light.
Unless you plan on visiting Alfa Romeo's historic museum in Arese, Italy, to see it in person, the closest you'll get to the Nuvola is through a die-cast scale model like the one we found on eBay Italy. True, it’s not the real deal, but probably better than nothing.
This is IDECORE's (an acronym for "ideas, concepts, relationships") Alfa Romeo Monza V8,a new digital concept in honor of the Italian firm's centennial celebration. IDECORE, which bills itself as "independent designers and modelers", sees this model as an Executive Sport 2+2 with a next-gen Multiair V8 driving the rear wheels.
The car would measure 4.8 meters long, similar to BMW's current 6-Series. From the looks of it, this could also provide Alfa with a regular-production flagship coupe in place of its beautiful and very limited halo car, the 8C Competizione.
While Alfa has been reinventing itself lately with attractive small cars targeting younger buyers, a slick full-size coupe could very well be in the pipeline, especially since Alfa is rumored to be using Chrysler's large RWD platform for its long-delayed 169 sedan.
Since Alfa Romeo hopes to one day make a return to the US market as a BMW competitor, a car like this is something that can't be ruled out. Vent and rave in the comments below.
A few months back we showed you Marco Procaccini's Vittorio Jano design study for an Alfa Romeo 159 replacement (see here). The slinky fastback notably featured an aggressive front end treatment and a C-Column / rear glasshouse design somewhat reminiscent of the Lotus Evora.
Now Marco is back with a more practical Sport Wagon variant of the Vittorio Jano which -in theory- is 50 mm longer and 10 mm taller than its saloon sibling.
The Sport Wagon features a face lifted front bumper with LED running lights a la the HSV E2 series and a rear end profile possibly inspired by the Peugeot 308 SW wagon.
You can see more pictures and video of the Vittorio Jano Sport Wagon below.
A couple of weeks after the Giulietta's world premiere at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Alfa Romeo has released a two-and-a-half-minute long promotional video of its new sporty hatchback.
The spot nods at the past by shadowing previous generations of the Giulietta in the background but also embraces the future by touting some of the Giulietta's technological and mechanical highlights such as the multilink suspension and start&stop system.
The new Golf-sized Giulietta will be offered with a variety of powertrains spanning from a 105HP 1.6-liter diesel to a 235HP 1.7-liter turbocharged petrol. Video after the break.
Already revealed in pictures, Alfa Romeo is now showing off its Giullietta hatchback on film with a new video clip that was shot during winter testing in Arjeplog, Sweden, this past January. The Giullietta is a direct replacement for the decade-old 147 hatchback model rivaling C-Segment cars like the VW Golf and BMW 1-Series.
The new model is set for a world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show in March and a market launch in Europe this summer.
It will be offered with three petrol engines, including 120HP and 170HP versions of a 1.4-liter turbo unit, and a 235HP 1.7-liter turbo, as well as two diesels producing 105HP and 170HP. Hit the jump to watch the new video clip.
The countdown for the official world premiere of the new Alfa Romeo Giulietta at the Geneva Salon in the beginning of March has already began, so the Italians have started working on the promotion of their Ford Focus sized sporty hatch. To our knowledge, this is the first advert for the Giulietta to find its way on the web, but don't get too excited as the film is all talk, no action... Hit the jump to watch the video or click here for the most recent photos of Alfa's five-door hatchback model.
Following the release of the first photos and details of Alfa Romeo's Giulietta sport hatch (formerly known as the Milano), a new animated film of the car has appeared on the internet. We're guessing that the 12 second-long video was most likely created for use on Alfa Romeo's official website. Other than showing us the 147's replacement from a few new angles, there's really nothing else worth mentioning about the film. Hit the break to check it out.
