Italdesign Presents Alfa Flagship at Geneva

Giorgetto Giugiaro will present his proposal for a new Alfa Romeo flagship with the unveiling of the the Visconti conept at the Geneva Motor Show next week. Breaking free from the classic 3-volume, 4-door sedan layout, Giugiaro opted for a form inspired by more sporting 2-volume vehicles, with a trunk that appears "like a mere flick of the tail." As with the earlier Brera concept and the redesigned 156, the Visconti retains strong links to Alfa Romeo's heritage, from the winged, V-shaped grille to the chrome center line of the hood.

As with the Brera coupé, Giugiaro has designed the Visconti not only as a concept, but also that it may go straight into series production. The Visconti has been concieved from a specific evolution of the Premium Platform chosen by Alfa Romeo for the future 939 model family. Encompassed in this new family, also being designed by Giugiaro, are replacements for Alfa 156 and Sportwagon, two-seat Spider roadster and a 2+2 Brera Coupé to replace both the GTV and GT coupés.

Fitted with a 3.2 Liter bi-turbo direct injection V6 producing 408 hp, the Visconti is just under five meters in length and less than 1.9 meters in width. Handling and traction are optimised by the use of all-wheel drive and four-wheel steering, a technology US supplier Delphi has recently been promoting to European OEMs.