Being an Alfa Romeo is genuinely hard. It’s rather like when the national football team plays, that moment when everyone suddenly becomes the manager… well, every new Alfa Romeo gets much the same treatment, with every enthusiast feeling entitled to pass judgement on the new car. The passion surrounding this marque is enormous and reaches every corner of the globe. There are thousands of collectors: the nostalgists who remember its historic triumphs, those ready to welcome every new arrival from the Biscione, and others who, without fail, would have done it differently. Heated debate on social media is inevitable, and this time ‘she’ is there, ready to be admired at the Paris Motor Show.
CuoreRosso is a four-door coupé-saloon that reinterprets the marque’s origins in a thoroughly modern way. It is dressed in tri-coat red, a colour that brings out every muscle and every transition between surfaces. Low and wide, it features a character line that casts a crisp, raking highlight along the flank, pointing towards the front end. The front wheel arch is scalloped to make it look visually wider, while the rear haunch flares out prominently, creating a genuinely dynamic interplay of volumes. Up front, the bonnet is very long, with air vents carved out of its surface that create an evocative play of form, further accentuating the V traced by the signature Alfa scudetto.
The windscreen wraps around, with the door glass extending up into part of the roof. The Kamm tail is dominated by a prominent spoiler, topped by a triangular rear screen reminiscent of the Alfa Romeo scudetto, along with round tail lights and a vertical exhaust outlet set into the slightly protruding rear bumper. The entire body is sculpted with lines that cut through the volumes with great delicacy. Overall, the form is truly dynamic and sinuous, resulting in a car that looks poised to pounce. Its striking, oversized alloy wheels feature six cut-out lobes converging on a triangular hub. The front-end light signature is entrusted to razor-sharp headlamps, each made up of three slender light strips that dominate the nose and give it a highly aggressive stance. The spectacular coach doors open onto a truly futuristic cabin with four bucket seats mounted on a carbon-fibre structural element.
At the centre, the rear seats link up with the steeply raked centre tunnel, which carries physical rotary controls and a lever that looks as though it has been borrowed from the Space Shuttle. The whole structure is treated like a suspension bridge which, together with the door cards, forms an X-shaped design. The fascia is strikingly minimalist, with the instruments housed beneath a single cowl that opens out in two, splitting the functions. At either end, two round air vents blend softly into the elliptical-section dashboard. The oval steering wheel is sculpted to draw the eye towards the red-illuminated Alfa Romeo badge.
The whole cabin is finished in red and black, enveloping its occupants in a truly sporting and engaging environment. CuoreRosso points to a 2.9-litre V6 full-hybrid powertrain paired with Q4 all-wheel drive. Here, past and future come together in a concept car that we hope will foreshadow future models in the Biscione’s line-up.
Alfa Romeo’s new match has only just kicked off, and Paris will be the pitch… now it’s over to the Alfisti.
Article edited by Antonio Erario