Alfa Romeo Spider on 2040-cars

Auto blog

1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider wins top prize at Villa d'Este

Every year, a selection of the most beautiful automobiles ever made travel to the shores of Lake Como in Italy, for the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. Only one of them can be named the belle of the ball, however, and this year, top honors went to a classic 1930s-era Alfa Romeo. The 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider owned by American collector David Sydorick won the Best in Show award. The deep red roadster is entered the circle of finalists after winning the B class for "Pre-war sports cars which defied the Great Depression." The classic Alfa features coachwork by Zagato. The coachbuilder notes that another one of its creations – a 1956 Maserati A6G/54 also owned by an American collector – won the post-war class. The modern Maserati-powered Mostro, which Zagato revealed at the concours and delivered to its first customer, did not win the Concepts and Prototypes class. (But we've included an updated image gallery below just the same). That award went to the Bentley EXP 10 Speed 6. The people's choice Coppa d'Oro was awarded to the 1950 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta by Touring, while a 1973 Munch-4 TTS-E won the motorcycle category. Related Video: Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2015: Winners dazzle at the time-honoured Classic Weekend on Lake Como Munich/Cernobbio. An impressive parade of all the cars and motorcycles entered in competition and the announcement of this year's prize winners provided a dazzling Classic Weekend on the banks of Lake Como with a fitting climax late on Sunday afternoon in front of thousands of spectators. The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este had once again underlined its stand-out status on the exclusive event calendar for historic cars and motorcycles. All eyes were trained on the line-up of precious classic machines and striking concept cars over the two days of the Concorso. Under a pleasantly warm sun, the event's "Seventies Style – the Jet Set is back" banner spanned a host of special exhibitions and highlight features, creating a fitting stage for a weekend that will live long in the memory. As ever, the best was left until last. The jury of experts provided the event with its crowning moment as the Trofeo BMW Group for "Best of Show" was awarded to an Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spider from 1932. The Coppa d'Oro Villa d'Este prize decided by public referendum was won by a Ferrari 166M Barchetta from 1950.

Alfa Romeo prioritizing vehicle quality and customer satisfaction

Stellantis honcho Carlos Tavares has proved himself adroit at the turnaround. GM had lost money on its European Opel/Vauxhall unit for two decades before Tavares took the helm at Peugeot-Citroen (PSA) and bought GM's European arm. Tavares restored Opel/Vauxhall to profit in a year. Within 18 months of PSA's "merger" with Fiat-Chrysler being official, we're no longer hearing doomsday stories from some of the perpetually troubled marques under the new umbrella. All of the Italians — Alfa Romeo, Abarth, Fiat, Lancia, Maserati — say they're doing well, Alfa Romeo back in the black and planning a range that will be more accessible and more fun to own. Having established Tavares' mastery of the basics, we've yet to find out if he knows how to transform a brand, which is what all of the Italian automakers need. At Alfa Romeo, the North American heads told Automotive News that they're still establishing the foundations of a revolution. In doing so, the brand sounds more like the kind of premium automaker it's been aspiring to be since its return in 2008.  Vincent Noirbent, VP of Brand and Product Planning for Alfa Romeo on this continent, said the automaker's working a 10-year plan to place itself as Stellantis' global premium brand below Maserati's all-out luxury. We don't know how that's going to work with Lancia in Europe, but we don't get Lancia, so that potential clash is out of our jurisdiction. Autonews phrased Noirbent's message as, "Customer satisfaction and vehicle quality are arguably 'more important' to the brand than sales as it works to build momentum in the U.S." He also said it's more important to build a "sound business" built around the strengths of the brand and that doesn't rely on incentives. A Miami dealer described comments from Alfa Romeo North America boss Larry Dominque as wanting to "make the cars right first, make the [ownership] experience better, and build the value of the brand so somebody will pay an extra $100 a month." In an interview from Pebble Beach, Dominique said a luxury service experience and experiential marketing will also be involved. This will include "concierge services, pick-up and drop-off service for test drives," and when visiting a dealer, "it's the kind of thing where not only could you come in to see beautiful cars, but also do Italian cooking lessons and wine tastings." All the work will take time.

Alfa Romeo celebrates Quadrifoglio's 100th anniversary

This year, Alfa Romeo celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Quadrifoglio becoming part of Alfa Romeo lore. In 1923, team racing driver and eternal second-place finisher Ugo Sivocci painted a four-leaf clover inside a white square on his RL "Corsa" single-seater developed to win the Targa Florio. Sivocci won the race, giving Alfa Romeo its first international victory. A few months later, Sivocci went to Monza to test the P1 for the Grand Prix of Europe. He hadn't painted a four-leaf clover on the #17 P1 he drove, and he died during practice. True, correlation is not causation, but it's hard to find a more superstitious bunch than racing teams drivers. The Italians retired #17 from racing vehicles, and from 1924 every Alfa Romeo featured a Quadrifoglio on the bodywork inside of a triangle instead of a square. The missing point represented the loss of Sivocci. Since then, those green leaves have identified Alfas among the sea of other red Italian single seaters from competitors like Ferrari and Maserati. Of course, sometimes the cars didn't need such help, the lines on models like the TZ and P33 iconic enough to forgo further distinction. The Milanese added Quadrifoglio versions of production cars in the 1960s, but didn't make it part of official production names until the 1980s. Following that, the branding expanded into two clovers, a Quadrifoglio Oro (gold) denoting luxury versions, a Quadrifoglio Verde for sporty variants. Then came even wider use as the single letter "Q" for features like the Q2 locking differential and Q4 all-wheel drive. Centro Stile Alfa Romeo tweaked the logo, the graphic to appear at brand events that will kick off on the official centenary June 25. That's been dubbed "Quadrifoglio Day," host to a "Backstage" conference and parade open to all of Alfa Romeo clubs.    This year is also the 60th anniversary of Alfa Romeo's Autodelta racing division. Equivalent to an AMG or M division for the Italians, predating both German versions, the famous Alfa Romeo racing cars like the 1965 Giulia Sprint GTA and the 1975 33 TT 12 sports car racer emerged from the Autodelta workshops. These celebrations will come first, on March 5, punctuated by a conference at the Alfa Romeo Museum in Arese, Milan. Related video: