Geneva show: Pininfarina unveils next Alfa Spider

WE SAW Bertone’s idea of what Alfa Romeo’s next-generation two-plus-two coupe could look like in the Alfa 8C Competizione supercar-based Pandion concept now legendary Italian design house Pininfarina has also used this week’s Geneva motor show to preview Alfa’s all-new two-seat Spider.

Though neither prototype show car has been officially confirmed for production, they were commissioned by the Italian brand to help celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, with both concepts debuting alongside Alfa’s new Giulietta hatchback at Geneva.

The ‘Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta Concept’ – a name that’s said to evoke the legendary Duetto of the 1960s – also marks the 80th birthday of Pininfarina, which appears likely to extend its long-standing design relationship with Fiat’s luxury marque.

Pininfarina’s flowery press release makes no bones about the potential of its latest concept, images of which have proved so popular that its website was crashed by internet surfers following the car’s Geneva reveal.

“It is a concept that represents an innovative approach, projected into the third millennium, to a topic that is firmly rooted in Pininfarina history, the two-seater spider.

“And like the best Alfa Romeo sportscars to come from Pininfarina's pencil, the Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta Concept exalts the driving experience and concentrates on the excitement of being at the wheel of an open car with a great aesthetic personality. It is a car that can make people dream and excites even after many years.”

While Alfa has made no formal comment on the concept, Pininfarina says the vehicle is “proposed” with a longitudinally mounted 1750cc turbocharged engine, which fuels speculation the next generation Alfa model family will include a shift to rear-drive, but officially remains “an obvious reference to the ‘1750 Veloce’ of 1968”.

The bright-red 2uettottanta is precisely 4212.6mm long, 1797mm wide, 1280mm high and has a wheelbase of 2500mm.

Its futuristic profile is fronted by a three-dimensional Alfa shield grille that is made of aluminium and incorporates floating horizontal flaps, either side of which reside a pair of triangular lateral air intakes. Pininfarina says the two bonnet elements create a natural link between the logo and the large windscreen, while its LED headlights are “embedded under the line that gives the whole car its character”.

The Alfa Spider concept also features a carbon-fibre lower front splitter, twin pods that rise from behind the seats to double as rollover protection and seatbelt mounts, specially designed low-profile Dunlop tyres on traditional five-circle Alfa wheels and carbon-ceramic brakes from Brembo.

Pininfarina says the 2uettottanta interior is spacious, comfortable and incorporates lightweight materials, leather trim, touch controls, a three-spoke steering wheel with shift paddles to control the concept’s dual-clutch transmission and a driver-oriented dashboard containing classic Alfa ‘tubes’ that house the instruments.

“The Alfa Romeo 2uettottanta Concept is not a pure styling exercise, but also a project and research,” says Pininfarina. “The goal is to grasp the spirit of the spider in the configuration, the proportions and the conception of the car as well as in its stylistic imprint. This working method is part of Pininfarina's genes.

“For this project, the Pininfarina creative team was given carte blanche to express the values inherent in the Alfa spider ‘by Pininfarina’, the values that are deemed to have made the Giulietta Spider or the Duetto all-time classics.

“What is the 2uettottanta effect? Desire. Whoever sees it ‘must’ possess it, drive it, enjoy it. Because the 2uettottanta is not an unattainable dream. Nor does the 2uettottanta only want to impress at first glance, but to achieve a beauty that does not strive solely for immediate confirmation, but gradually reveals all its values and transfers them to the future, making the style eternal.”