A Sportwagon that is all new but whose every corner and line says Alfa Romeo. The aims of Giorgetto Giugiaro, who did the styling of the externals, and Wolfgang Egger, head of Alfa design, were in perfect agreement, including
the desire to achieve the same result obtained with the 156, that of using the same floorpan of the saloon and reducing bodywork changes to the minimum. “With the 159 Sportwagon”, explains Giugiaro, “we wanted to rationalise a product based on a saloon that was in turn inspired by my 2002 Brera protype”.
“Alfa Romeo”, says Egger, “has not had such a comprehensive range for years: you have to go back to the Giulietta to see the same spirit of innovation in the various forms of sporting concept”. It was in deference to this concept that Alfa began work in 1999 on a platform that had to combine sportiness, proportions, practicality and emotiveness. “We followed in the footsteps of the 156”, says Egger, “because the 156 was a milestone in the re-establishment of Alfa values. And this is the result: a brand that is made even more captivating by its characteristics of compactness, lightness, agility and emotiveness expressed through the new family lines”.
Responsible for the interior was Enzo Ferreri, with Gianni Gariglio and Alessandro Maccolini, while Fee von Steynitz, Tiziana Mauri and Elisabetta Dallavalle looked after colour and trim. Antonio Rosti and Alessandro Dambrosio worked on definition of the exterior in collaboration with Giugiaro. Like the saloon before it, the Sportwagon is very much driver-oriented, with the console turned to face the driver and minimalist but comprehensive instrumentation; to say nothing of the materials, the etched aluminium of the dash and the use of new leathers.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 158
