Style, luxury, sophistication, and elegance are synonymous with this Italian car brand. Alfa Romeo is widely popular for its sportscar range including its Formula One racing cars. Since 1911, Alfa Romeo has been involved in car racing and successfully competed in Grand Prix motor racing, rallies, Formula One, sportscar and touring car racing. The creation of Societa Anonima Italiana Darraca (SAID) in 1906 marked the origin of Alfa Romeo. In late 1909, the cars were selling slowly, so the founder, Alexandre Darracq with his Italian investor founded a new automobile company called A.L.F.A. i.e Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili.
As the company quoted, the future belongs to those who have a great history and the history of Alfa Romeo is indeed an achievement in itself. So, let’s unfolded the pages and track the origin of Alfa Romeo
1910-1960: Alfa was founded in 1910 and produced its first vehicle in the same year. The first car, 24 HP, was designed keeping the Italian market a priority. A year later in 1911, the brand entered motor racing with Targa Florio. However, the onset of the First World War halted automobile production at Alfa for years. To keep the sales going, the company started producing military hardware for the Italian war efforts under the new director – Nicola Romeo.
In 1919, Alfa resumed the car production and next year the name of the company was changed to Alfa Romeo, where Romeo being the last name of the director. Later that year, Alfa Romeo launched ‘the Torpedo 20-30’ under this new brand name. In 1928, Nicola Romeo left and Alfa Romeo was rescued by the government in 1933. Therefore, Alfa Romeo became a national emblem. During this period, some amazing and unique vehicles were introduced such as the Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider Corsa and Alfa Romeo 2900B Type 35.
In 1940, Italy entered World War II and an aerial bombardment in later years forced Alfa Romeo to cease production again. But, the company never gave up. Soon, it came into the business. In 1951, Alfa Romeo introduced its first off-roader vehicle and a few years later the Disco Volante made its appearance.
1960-1980: By the 60s, the company began large volume production and increased yearly unit output. The first car of the decade was Giulia, which sold more than 1 million units. In the 1970s, the company launched the famous 8-cylinder engine on its all-new Alfa Montreal. In the late 70s, Alfa 6 was launched and the brand won numerous races and broke several world records.
1980-2000: In the 80s, Alfa Romeo introduced a V6 version of Alfetta. By 1986, the company’s owner was suffering have losses and put Alfa Romeo for sale. Fiat put in a bid to acquire the entirety of Alfa Romeo and offer job guarantees to Italian workers and so later that year, the Alfa Romeo was merged with traditional rival Lancia into Fiat’s Alfa Lancia Industriale S.p.A. In the 1990s, Alfa Romeo was highly successful in car racing and had a yearly production output of 208,336.
2000-Today: With the new decade, the sales of the dropped at a rapid rate. However, in 2005, Fiat acquired Maserati and created a sports luxury division from Alfa Romeo as well as Maserati. The next significant milestone was the North American return that occurred in 2014, which was ceased in 1995. Today, the company is planning a huge return to the US automobile market, introducing numerous new models of its vehicles, such as the 4C, Giulietta, and Mito.
Alfa Romeo Logo Meaning and History Timeline
The vibrant and catchy Alfa Romeo’s symbol is surely one of the best car logos in the history of graphic design. The symbol has been undergone numerous modifications over the years. Although nobody is sure about the story behind the Alfa Romeo’s emblem, still we would love to talk about its meaning and value it carries.
Two of the traditional symbols of Milan were chosen to create the Alfa Romeo’s logo, which was the red cross of the municipality and the Visconti serpent. Both the heraldic devices were divided by two Savoy-dynasty knots and enclosed in a circle with the ALFA-MILANO printed around the edge. At that time, the most influential family in Milan was the Visconti family and so to reflect the power of the cars, the coat of arms of the Visconti family was included in the Alfa Romeo’s symbol. In 1920, Alfa Romeo’s emblem was modified for the first time and the new one read Alfa-Romeo Milano.
In 2015, the Alfa Romeo’s emblem was redesigned completely and colors reduced to three: green, red and dark blue. Also, the split white and light blue fields replaced by a single silver textured background.
At the moment, Alfa Romeo’s latest models are giving a tough competition not only in Italian markets but worldwide too. One of the biggest problems for Alfa Romeo is in the US market. However, the company is working to match up the expectations and manufacturing more models especially SUVs and electrified vehicles.
The latest models of the Alfa Romeo available in the markets are:
• Alfa Romeo 4C Coupe
Price: $55,900 onwards
• Alfa Romeo 4C Spider
Price: $65,900 onwards
• Alfa Romeo Giulia
Price: $38,195 onwards
• Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio
Price: $73,700 onwards
• Alfa Romeo Stelvio
Price: $42,195 onwards
• Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio
Price: $79,995 onwards
Alfa Romeo has announced to launch eight new or reworked models by 2020, with two new SUVs and a pair of sports cars set for launch. Still in the pipeline are a mid-size sedan, compact SUV, mid-size SUV, compact car, and two specialty cars. Also, Alfa Romeo is planning to bring back the 6C in early 2020, which was a road, race, and sports car between 1927 and 1954 that was powered by an inline-six engine. The revealed upcoming model of Alfa is the ‘Alfa Romeo Giulia Coupe GTV’ that is expected to debut at the 2019 Geneva Motor show.