Three Alfa Romeo 159 Design Proposals to Debut in Geneva - rumors

Wow, a showdown between the big 3 Italian design houses can only end well for us. As for the name, perhaps Giulia to complement the smaller Giulietta?

Look like a Mitsubishi Evo X

I think that this is a real balancing point opportunity for Alfa. Nicely designed and executed RWD 159's and 169's will be fresh and welcome choices in today's bland marketplace. Italian style with good quality at a feasible price point will find a steady demand. What won't work is front wheel drive, V6 cars with sketchy quality and value. There are lots of choices for the FWD/V6 type of platform. Most are numbingly similar. Adding a triangular shaped grill and $15,000 to this insipid platform, with historical Italian reliability thrown in as a bonus, is not a venture in which I would buy shares. Alfa has to do something tangibly different and they have to do it well. They are not going likely to get two shots in the USA market to get it correct. Americans aren't familiar enough with Alfa's several decade's past European race history to shell out money for something not much different than what Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and Mazda are offering. Just ask Saab and Volvo execs. The few of us who are willing to spend our dollars on Euros and European cars are more discriminate and we desire RWD or Quattro drive with reliability and good driving dynamics. Give us a BMW 3 or 5 series with Italian style, at a better price point, and good numbers will show up with our check books. A strong minority of Americans have always liked good quality cars that look classy and expensive.

OK, so let me get this straight..... These three companies are competing for a chance at being able to design Alfa Romeo's next 159? However, each company are going to focus on a specific body type (coupe,sedan and convertible). Can someone please correct me if I am wrong, but isn't that a bit pointless? You would think that they would each give a rendering of each body type i.e. Pininfarina dose a rendering of a coupe,sedan and convertible. So that the people at Alfa Romeo have a better understanding of each designer's style. That's just my opinion. Maybe I must have missed something when reading this. Anyone care to explain further?