Alfa Romeo (car manufacturer)

Alfa Romeo Automobili SpA is a renowned Italian car brand with a sporty image. Besides sporting family cars, coupes and convertibles, the brand known for its legendary sports cars. This is due to the fact that Alfa Romeo since its early years, has been involved in motor racing. This Alfa Romeo has taken part in many big tournaments like the race car GP and Formula 1 . Alfa Romeo will build about 150,000 cars annually and is the largest Italian car after parent company FIAT .

Alfa Romeo in 1910 evolved from SAID, the Italian branch of the French car manufacturer Darracq . The company first was named ALFA (Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili), until it was taken over by Nicola Romeo .

Contents

 * 1 History
 * 1.1 The early years
 * 1.2 First World War
 * 1.3 The interwar
 * 1.4 World War II
 * 1.5 After the war
 * 1.6 Autodelta
 * FIAT 1.7 era
 * 2 Imago
 * 3 Logo
 * Motorsport 4
 * 4.1 Quadrifoglio
 * 4.2 Alfa Romeo GTA
 * 5 Models
 * 5.1 Current models
 * 5.2 Old Models
 * 5.3 Sports Cars
 * 5.4 Concept Cars
 * 5.5 Carrosseriebouw
 * 6 Future
 * 7 External links

The early years
Alfa 24 HP

In 1906 the Società Anonima Italiana Darracq was ( SAID ) in Italy founded by the Frenchman Alexandre Darracq . Darracq thought the Italian car market, which at that time was still in its infancy compared to Germany and France, was ripe for its older and smaller models. SAID was started by him as part of its existing French car factory ( Darracq ).

Although his idea to conquer the Italian market with older and smaller models from the perspective of the economist was smart, Darracq was not successful SAID. His first two models for the Italian market were motor too weak for the currently bad and steep Italian roads. SAID could not compete with the cars that were imported into Italy.

Despite the approaching end of SAID Darracq was unwilling better model designs by locks to its Italian business. In 1909 Darraq was bought out by the manager of the Italian branch, Ugo Stella . These hired Giuseppe Merosi to develop new models which would be acceptable for the Italian market. The association with the bad models Darracq was broken by from 24 June 1910 to introduce a new name for the company Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, known as ALFA. The first true Alfa was the24 HP, with 4084 cc, four cylinders and 42 horsepower. This was four times the power of the largest Darracqmodel that he needed to change.

War
Around 1916, during the First World War , the last Darracqfamilielid sold his shares to the bank. They managed to sell them through a pump and compressor manufacturer , Nicola Romeo . Romeo was successful in manufacturing for the war industry and needed new factory space. He was, like mining, not a lover of cars. Romeo bought for his goal the other shareholders of Alfa completely out and got the entire company owned. He began to use the factory to manufacture tractors, aircraft engines and railway equipment. How much there was fabricated, cars rolled no more of the band during the war years. During these years the company named Romeo even to themselves.

The interwar period
Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 with Scuderia Ferrari

After the war in 1918 war industry collapsed. Nicola Romeo was a skilled entrepreneur and saw the opportunity to produce yet to cars. The company was again renamed.The name of Romeo cars would mean little outside the mining world, where Nicola Romeo until the war was successful. Nicola, however, still wanted to see his name associated with the company and did not just use the prewar name ALFA. The compromise was "Alfa Romeo".

To display the new brand Alfa Romeo began to take part in the various races held in Italy, and they knew this book with some degree of success and actually build brand awareness. Sales grew steadily. Around 1925 was Merosi as chief engineer succeeded by Vittorio Jano . Jano left for his appointment the race team of FIAT. At that time,Enzo Ferrari 's head of the racing team of Alfa Romeo (after too many races for Alfa Romeo drove) and Ferrari was responsible Jano far to get FIAT leave to come to work for Alfa Romeo. Jano constructed once the legendary P2, a car that seven years would dominate the grand prix races. In 1932, the P2 was followed by the Tipo B , a car that won every Grand Prix for two years he attended. In 1933 Alfa Romeo threatened to go bankrupt, but the Italian government came to the rescue and the IRI(Institute for Industrial Reconstruction) was the owner of the company. Immediately Alfa Romeo withdrew from all competitions and racing of Alfas was left to Scuderia Ferrari . During the second half of the '30s Alfa Romeo goes to the wind, and in 1938 will Alfa Corse created to bring control of the division race back to Alfa Romeo itself.

World War II
By Italy's participation in the Second World War arose later for Alfa Romeo kinds of organizational problems. The supply became increasingly difficult and moreover, the factories were bombed thrice in 1940 , 1943 and 1944 . The last bombing led to an almost complete cessation of production in Portello .

After the war
The 159 -formula 1 car to Fangio in 1951won the world title.

Alfa Romeo Tipo 159

In 1945 the works were resumed on a small scale, with the production of marine engines, aircraft engines and even modern electric cookers. Car production also began, starting with the 6C 2500 - and later the Tipo 158 -Grand Prix cars, which in 1950 were developed into the Tipo 159 's with some visual and thoroughly modernized and more powerful engines. Alfa Romeo already had a war trauma left behind. After production was again fully up to standard, the company also played with streetcars again a significant role, including a series of special creations based on the 6C 2500, with coachwork by Pininfarina and Carrozzeria Touring

1950 Alfa Romeo was the year of the turnaround, both at the industrial and sports. Explained in the fifties Alfa Romeo concentrated on models that were built in large series. The company had two objectives: the start of the assembly line production and achieve sporting success with in-built high-performance standard products. The Alfa Romeo 1900 Alfa Romeo was the first which was produced entirely on the conveyor belt. 1950 was also the first year of Formula 1, and Alfa Romeo dominated the first two years. With Giuseppe Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio was twice won the world title.

But the market changed, and Alfa Romeo stepped out of Formula 1 to focus more on production cars. In 1954 this resulted in the Giulietta on. In those years developed a trend that long would continue in the years thereafter: the collaboration between the development department and external bodywork stylists as Bertone , Zagato andPininfarina . In 1960 began the construction of a new plant in Arese, which opened three years later. The first car that was produced was the Giulia, which more than a million copies were built in different versions. The seventies were a period of ups and downs for Alfa Romeo. Management Problems were interspersed with sporting success. The period was determined by the economic and financial situation of the company, which could not fully meet the demand of the market and also encountered many problems with the energy crisis . 1970 was the year of the Montreal, Bertone dream car for the 1967 World Fair in Canada , which would eventually go into production.

Autodelta
In 1964 became Autodelta created under the direction of Carlo Chiti and Lodovico Chizzola . The company is predominantly involved in the development of racing cars based on standard production models. In 1970 Autodelta worked closely with McLaren and delivered it to the race team to the three-liter V8 engines used in Formula 1.

FIAT era
In 1986 the government sold company Finmeccanica Alfa Romeo to the FIAT group, which together with Lancia merged into a new company, Alfa Lancia SpA named, which became operational the following year.

The launch of the Alfa 156 in September 1997, a key moment in the repositioning of Alfa Romeo in the European market. The Alfa 156 was voted Car of the Year 1998 ; it was the first time that Alfa Romeo has won this prestigious award. In 2001 became the Alfa 147 also named Car of the Year.

In 2005 bought the FIAT group brand Maserati from Ferrari . The Alfa Lancia SpA was lifted and Maserati were added to Alfa Romeo. The duo was named "Polo Sportivo". The brands share engines, chassis and transmissions, and in some cases distributors.

On 1 February 2007 was the FIAT group reformed and were Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lancia and Fiat housed in separate companies. Alfa Romeo was that company called Alfa Romeo Automobili SpA. The different companies all remain wholly owned by Fiat Group Automobiles SpA.

Image processing
The brand has a large group of fans called "Alfisten". According to this Alfisten symbolizes Alfa Romeo some values ​​that speak to the imagination: a sporty heart (cuore sportivo in Italian ), a beautiful engine sound, character, elegant shapes and Italian flair. Still struggling Alfa Romeo since the Alfasud with the image that delivers the cars that would be less reliable. Thus, Alfa Romeos have more problems with rust than other brands, mainly on models from the late 60's and late 80's would apply. Alfa Romeo chose in the late 90s to all models as standard with zinc to treat to deal definitively with this image.

Logo
Badge on an 8C from 1938

The Alfa Romeo logo was in 1910 designed by Romano Cattaneo when he was commissioned to design a logo for the new Milanese car brand. The logo consists of two Milanese symbols: the right, the snake of the family of the Visconti 's on a light blue background (the idea for this was provided by a young artist from the development department of Alfa which at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan was waiting for a tram when his eye fell on the snake on the Filaretetoren ) and left the red cross on a white background, taken from the cross that the Milanese Giovanni da Rho during the Crusades first city walls of Jerusalem placed. Originally, both symbols were surrounded by a dark blue circle with the words "ALFA" (top) and "Milano" (below). Following the acquisition of the company by Nicola Romeo in 1915 was "Romeo" was added to the logo. After the Alfa Romeo P2, the first world championship for cars won the logo was surrounded by a gold laurel wreath. Then in 1971 the Alfa Romeo Alfasud not in Milan but inPomigliano d'Arco near Naples was produced, Milano disappeared from the logo.

Motorsport
Alfa Romeo has been very successful in various branches of motorsport. The brand posted victories include: Besides, Alfa Romeo extremely successful in touring car championships, such as the FIA WTCC and DTM .
 * 24 Hours of Le Mans (four times)
 * Formula 3 (eleven)
 * Mille Miglia (eleven)
 * Targa Florio (ten times)
 * World Champion Formula 1 (twice)
 * World Grand Prix (prewar) (once)
 * World Group C (twice)

Quadrifoglio
In 1923 Ugo Sivocci used during the Targa Florio on both sides of his race car the image of a four-leaf clover, quadrifoglio in Italian, to bring him luck during the race. The quadrifoglio to date is typical of racing cars from Alfa Romeo.

Alfa Romeo GTA
The type designation Alfa Romeo GTA is used since 1965 for the sportiest versions. GTA is an abbreviation for Gran Turismo ALLEGGERITA (Italian for lightened).

Models
Alfa Romeo MiTo

Current models
Alfa Romeo leads at this time (2015) the following models:
 * Alfa Romeo MiTo
 * Alfa Romeo Giulietta
 * Alfa Romeo 4C

Concept Cars
Design has always played a major role in the history of Alfa Romeo. Over the years, are also made ​​many design studies there, albeit by its own Centro Stile, albeit with major Italian design studios such as Pininfarina, Bertone , Zagato and ItalDesign - Giugiaro .

Carrosseriebouw
It used a car was available in several body styles. These coins were designed by external companies and built in limited numbers. Based on Alfa Romeo were built by carrossiën including Pininfarina , Bertone ,Zagato , Vignale , Castagna , Carrozzeria Touring , Ghia , Viotti , Stabilimenti Farina , Boneschi , Boano and Ellena , Garavini , Marazzi , Figoni et Falaschi and OSI .

Future work
Alfa Romeo will once again put firmly in the market with nine new models that will appear over a period of four years. The producer wants to reintroduce himself to numerous markets, including those of Britain and the United States. It does not at least its model, namely the mid-engined 4C. In 2015 Alfa is launching a new, rear-wheel drive midsize sedan based on the platform Giorgio. Around the time of launch an SUV will also be based on the Jeep Cherokee come on the market.