2023-05-24 19:38:16
Alfa Romeo has already approved the next four models that it will launch on the market between 2024 and 2026. The first will be presented at the end of August, but it will not go on the market until the following year, the date on which two of the new designs will be released. and the remaining two will do so in stages in the coming years of 2025 and 2026. What seems clear is that these novelties will be electrified models, as dictated by the new times and the brand’s strategy, and that two of them will be SUVs.
The new creations come from the mind of Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos, who has been in charge of the design department of the legendary Turin brand for just over two years. The Spaniard has steeped himself in the history of a brand born in 1910 and which prides itself on the difference between manufacturing and creating cars. At Alfa Romeo they create cars that are the sum of mechanical prodigies housed within harmonic lines that exude beauty. A constant that can be admired inside the installation ‘La Macchina del tempo-Museo Storico Alfa Romeo’ where you can admire more than 300 vehicles.
Mesonero-Romanos does not want to anticipate anything about his new designs, but he cannot avoid passion leading him to highlight aspects of historical models that indicate that they may have some reflection on what the brand will present soon. He confesses that he has used “bases of existing models”, although he clarifies that the new ones are marked “by the platform and the engine”.
The Spanish designer with one of the Alfa Romeo models
“The new models will break with the latest design line that the brand has had up to now,” confesses the Spaniard. And he emphasizes that he will have a presence that transmits strength and “will not leave anyone indifferent.” He then highlights that the idea of this new stage of Alfa Romeo is faithful to its origins of being a ‘premium’ brand that competes in the league in which Mercedes-Benz, BMW or Lexus are currently.
There are elements of the brand that are untouchable, such as the ‘scudetto’ (shield-shaped grill), of which there have been more than forty designs throughout history. Mesonero-Romanos has completely internalized it, but knows that the shape of the ‘scudetto’ can vary. In the new times of electrification, the front grills have lost the role of air intake for engine ventilation, which allows it to be integrated into the front as a more decorative than functional element.
Origin of the ‘trunk coda’
As for the lines and the bodywork, a feature that the Spanish designer places special emphasis on during his visit to the Alfa Romeo museum is the ‘coda tronca’ (cut tail). A design that draws a singular silhouette by finishing the rear of the car in a radical, clean cut, in the reverse direction of the rear drop of the body, thus eliminating turbulence. «In the new models we recover the ‘trunk coda’ in a contemporary way. People will be attracted to it, but they will like it”, predicts the designer.
The first coachbuilder to implement this form of ‘coda tronca’ was Ercole Spada (Italy, 1937). It was 1960 when he and his chief-driver Elio Zagato, still without a wind tunnel, had to fine-tune the new Alfa-Romeo Giulietta SZ. They stopped in the middle of the highway between Milan and Bergamo and cut off the aluminum tail of the model. The model traveled at 220 km/h with a 1300 engine. What was an eccentricity today is a beauty trait that Zagato exported to other brands and that in Alfa-Romeo can be seen later in other models.
Regarding the new avalanche of Chinese cars that are landing in Europe, Mesonero-Romanos points out that they arrive with very Western designs “because they have captured a lot of European talent from traditional brands, which means that they come with innovative ideas.”
Some of the iconic Alfa Romeo designs
The Spanish designer has a team of 25 people for the relaunch of the brand. A relatively small group compared to the 180 he had when he was Cupra’s chief designer. However, he points out that despite being fewer, they are much more agile.
The creation process remains the traditional one. “We started with a pencil and paper before starting to work on the computer. If the drawing is good, we move on », he explains. With this mechanism they have been able to design four models in two years. The first of them, the one that will come out at the end of the summer, was approved eight months ago.
But this new stage of Alfa Romeo It does not end in these four models, which may recover the name of a historic car of the brand. More daring proposals will arrive later, among which he does not rule out a two-seater cabrio. But all of them with sporty airs.
One of the new challenges marked by electrification is the placement of the batteries, a detail that can go a bit against the sporty lines. The placement of the battery raises the car 120 mm, which conditions the aerodynamics in electric cars to improve autonomy.
On the interior of the cars, Mesonero-Romanos is in favor of including a touch of color, although dark tones always triumph.
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