CarBrandLogos archive · Alfa Romeo · 1971
Brilliant to drive, built in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it rusted.
Discover the storyPhoto: Calreyn88 · CC BY-SA 4.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Alfa Romeo Alfasud, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
The Alfasud was an industrial policy before it was a car. The Italian government wanted employment in the south, and Alfa Romeo, state-owned, was directed to build a new factory at Pomigliano d'Arco near Naples and a new small car to fill it. The name says so plainly: Alfa of the south.
Alfa Romeo Alfasud · Marvin Raaijmakers · CC BY-SA 2.5
02
Rudolf Hruska, an Austrian engineer with Porsche and Cisitalia behind him, laid the car out and got it remarkably right. Giorgetto Giugiaro at Italdesign gave it a crisp, high-tailed two-box shape with excellent visibility. The engine was a flat-four boxer mounted longitudinally ahead of the front wheels, starting at 1.2 litres and growing to 1.5, sitting low enough to keep the centre of gravity down while leaving room for a roomy cabin. The front brakes were inboard, the front suspension used struts and the rear a beam located by a Watt linkage.
Polizia di stato alfa sud · Viaggiatore · CC BY-SA 3.0
03
The result handled better than any small saloon of its era, and by a wide margin. Testers of the day struggled to explain how a cheap family car could steer and grip like that, and the boxer engine revved willingly enough to make the modest power figures beside the point.
Dashboard Alfa Romeo Alfasud · Tasma3197 · CC BY-SA 3.0
04
Two things ruined it. The factory had no tradition of car building and was plagued by disputes and quality failures, and the steel used in early cars - poorly protected, sometimes badly stored before pressing - corroded with startling speed. Cars a few years old were failing structurally while their mechanical parts were still healthy, and Alfa Romeo's reputation in northern Europe never entirely recovered.
05
Later cars, particularly once the hatchback and the Giugiaro-drawn Sprint coupe arrived, were much better made, and production ran to 1983 for the saloon and 1989 for the Sprint. The 33 replaced it, using the same boxer engines.
06
Survivors are rare and increasingly sought after, especially the twin-carburettor Ti models. The Alfasud is the standard example of a car whose engineering was far better than the company building it.
At a glance
Produced
1971–1983Engine
1.2 L (1,186 cc) Alfa Romeo Boxer engineBody
2/4-door SedanTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the Alfasud's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →From the journal
Contemporaries from the 1970s
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