Alfa Romeo |
To help you find the exact Alfa Romeo car resource you are looking for, we have a deidicated website for each model of the most popular Alfa Romeo range.
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Cavaliere Ugo Stella from Milan partnered with Alexandre Darracq a French automobile company to form Darracq Italiana in 1907. Darracq cars were produced initially in Naples, Italy. The partnership failed and Italian co-investors were quick to get involved with Stella moving the production factory to Portello in the suburbs of Milan. The company was renamed to ALFA which stood for Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili.
In 1910 ALFA produced a 24 Horse Power vehicle aptly named the "24 HP" making it the first non Darracq production car. Giuseppe Merosi designed The 24 HP and later went on to design the 40-60 HP Range.
In 1911 ALFA entered the world of motor racing with two of their 24 HP's.
In 1916 Nicola Romeo an entrepreneur from Naples took over the company and converted the factory, producing military hardware based on the current car engines for the Italian and Allied war efforts.
Production stopped during the war for there years and resumed in 1919, once the war ended ALFA was under complete control by Nicola Romeo.
The company name Alfa Romeo was introduced in 1920 and the first car to be labelled with an Alfa Romeo badge was the Torpedo 20-30 HP, production continued including the RL Targa Florio and the 40-60 HP.
Giuseppe Merosi was replaced as chief designer by Vittorio Jano from Fiat in 1923 under the influence of the racing driver Enzo Ferrari.
Vittorio Jano's first changes for Alfa Romeo were applied to the P2 Grand Prix car which went on to win the 1925 world championship. Jano developed a series of road cars with 4, 6, and 8 cylinder inline power plants and small-to-medium-displacement based on the P2 which created the classic architecture Alfa Romeo engines.
In 1928 the defence contracts ended which had supported the company until this point which led to Alfa going broke, at this point Nicola Romeo left the company and in 1933 the government rescued Alfa Romeo and took control but it struggled to return a profit after the war having been bombed.
Alfa started to produce Smaller mass-produced vehicles for the luxury market.
In the 1970's Alfa hit financial trouble again and in 1986 Fiat bought in forming Alfa Lancia Spa which produced Alfa's and Lancia's.
In 1984 the Alfa Romeo 33 replaced the Sud and the Alfa 90 was introduced as a replacement for the Alfa 6
The Giulietta name was dropped after 20 years with the arrival of the Alfa Romeo 75 also know as the Milano in the United States. The 75 stands for the 75 year jubilee of Alfa Romeo.
The Fiatgroup incorporated Alfa Romeo in 1987, Lancia was the luxurious range and Fiat the mainstream range.
The Alfa Romeo 16 was introduced in 1988 and in 1989 Alfa Romeo released the stunning SZ (Sport Zagato) 3.0litre V6 labelled 'The Beast' and would only produce 1000.
Alfa Romeo replaced the 75 with the Alfa Romeo 155 in 1992 making it the only spider designed by Pininfarina with front wheel drive.
A cabriolet version of the SZ called the RZ was released in 1994 along with a new GTV and a convertible version called the Spider.
Alfa Romeo Stopped exporting to the United States in 1995.
The Alfa Romeo 156 replaced the Alfa Romeo 155 in 1997 and became car of the year in 1998 and the luxury Alfa Romeo 166 was released in replacement of the Alfa Romeo 164 which stopped production in 1997.
By late 1999 the Alfa 156 sportswagon was produced and the 33 Sportswagon was stopped.
In 2000 introduction of the Alfa Romeo 147 was made as the successor of the 145 and 146 range and a partnership was agreed with General Motors with a share-swap agreement giving GM 20% of Fiat and Fiat 5.1% of GM. Fiat then announced its intention to bring Alfa Romeo back to the United States in late 2009 with the Alfa Romeo 159 sedan, the Brera coupe and the Spider.
Maserati dealerships in the United States are the primary sales channel for Alfa Romeos. |
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