Long since in the mind of the
world of automotive shape and body design are sensations of unrest, frenzy
and discontent, fuelled by the pervasive desire for innovation and glamour.
Encouraged by clientele to venture into domains where only the sky is the
limit or spurred by unexpressed consumer yearnings besieged by endless inputs
from the world of media, fashion, cult and one-step-ahead social trends,
feeling the delight of sheer and supreme style to the fingertips goes beyond
the restraints of time for Italdesign Giugiaro.
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It is an acceleration that
embraces creative thinking, technology, manufacturing and the market. We
barely percept the rapid pace to which we are susceptible: we have metabolized
it.
In the Alfa Romeo Brera concept
car, Giorgetto Giugiaro has called together the essence of creative thinking,
shaped around the concept of a contemporary, elegant, refined and essential
car, capable of grasping that spirit of adventure and pursuit of quality
that runs through the Alfa brand and its history like a golden thread and
carving out technological evolution that translates into a unique synthesis
of almost intimate and intentionally reserved driving pleasure; requisites
that make their statement through classic appeal and elegant lines, designed
to weather the toll of time.
Arising there from is the head-turning
prototype that Giugiaro would like to board on the last day of the Show,
taking the roads of Geneva in his stride to mingle among city traffic knowing
to arouse emotion and thrills.
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Alfa Romeo Brera
With the
Alfa Romeo Brera concept car, Italdesign and Giorgetto Giugiaro drew
inspiration from the themes of coachbuilder predecessors in their heydays,
favoring those architectonic tracks paved in the years of the past,
essential, immediately legible or releasing the ambitions of the materials
(bodyshell entirely in carbon fiber) and its content, a powerful 90°
V-shaped mid-front eight-cylinder engine of more than 4,000 cm3 with
almost 400 HP.
The shape of the Alfa - a two-seater
plus room for two children - is generous and complete. Integrated front
and rear ends with seamless bumper - a refined and tailored interpretation
of the legendary sports cars of the past endowed with state-of-art mechanics
arising from the co-development of Alfa Romeo motorsport components - a
solid body with striking road grip thanks to Transax mechanics, made even
more convincing and dynamic by a perfect balance of tyres and suspension,
an all-new gearbox of the latest generation.
As a result of the technology
currently available, these integrated treatments - with recourse to aluminum
- also go into series production projects.
The design of Alfa Romeo Brera
body is generous both in length and width, 4,388 mm and 1,894 mm, respectively,
with a height of 1,289 mm, whilst the distinctively tapered front and rear
ends attribute a compact unique character.
As for the cars of the Fifties,
the hollow-shaped bonnet slopes downward to the distinctive emblem badge
that characterizes the brand identity. The V-shaped profiles converging
into fascinating headlights and parking lights are modeled by the downward
sloping bonnet. The bodyshell of the underlying structure pointed the way
to fitting air intakes as near to the ground as possible.
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For normal inspections, the
line of the bonnet culminates in the raised contour that descends from the
windshield board to the emblematic badge. For more drastic interventions,
the whole of the front can be removed by dismantling the belt band that
descends vertically from the curvature ends.
The one and only hedonistic
concession is represented by the door aperture fitted with
fixed windows and operated by a patented rotary and push
knob. When rotated outward, the door is projected upward.
The lower center of rotation (aligned to the lower
part of the door) works towards pruning the high-opening door, which protrudes
360 mm only from the unitary body, a somewhat impossible space for unrestricted
passenger egress from a conventional door. In truth, this represents an
unrelated concession to the mission posed by creative thinking so that the
production of vehicle becomes immediately feasible. This may be easily overcome
without detriment to the lines of the door by employing a normal hinged
flap.
In the ¾ rear view, the fender
line fades away at the base of the rear window. The rear end design themes
draw inspiration from the latest Alfa 156 and 157 stylish features, which,
however, Giugiaro blended together recalling the modeled rear window of
the legendary Giulietta Sprint.
As once again proposed by the
V-shaped headlight and parking light convergence, the tail of the car accordingly
descends evenly without truncating abruptly from the front. With no baggage
compartment, stocking is enabled by raising the one and only hinged rear
window inserted in the dark spoiler that houses the stoplights.
Interior in line with technological
trend
If the question
of classic appeal applies to exterior design, the task of conferring
a standard-setting look and futuristic design to a model encompassing
powerful technology is assigned to interior architecture, which proposes
the introduction of aluminum components made "warmer" and more comfortable
by leather padding, control display separation, prominent
central tunnel and a generous console set between the two passengers.
The door panel recuperates
shoulder and elbow space due to the lack of roll-down windows. Air intakes
are fitted on the door opening and not at the dashboard angles. The seating
configuration allows glimpses of the steel structure to be valorized. As
mentioned earlier, all metal parts placed near to the knees or shoulders
of the driver or passengers are well protected and padded. Engine power
and performance pointed the way to the application of two handles per passenger:
one on the door and one on the tunnel. Interior lighting is regulated by
an innovative system of sensors that regulate the darkness of the large
upper window.
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