Alfa's Red Savior? The Alfa Romeo 156 Story

In the 1990s Alfa Romeo was digging itself out of a financial hole as red as the colour of its iconic, but slow selling cars. The 155 had captured the minds if not the hearts of the Alfisti. If that car were to be given a report card, it would probably be “must try harder”. Well, Alfa certainly did that with the 156. It’s a car of legend and brought Alfa Romeo back from the brink. Where did the iconic shape come from, did Alfa’s famous quality problems torpedo sales, and what other cars did it spawn? If you'd like to support what I do, and get early access to advert-free videos and exclusive channel updates, please consider supporting the channel from just $1 or 80p a month: http://patreon.com/bigcar Support me using PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/bigcartv Big Car merch: https://teespring.com/stores/bigcartv Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigcartv My second channel - Little Car: https://www.youtube.com/littlecar Sources: https://thethinkersgarage.com/2014/04/04/looking-back-at-the-alfa-romeo-156/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_155 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_Three_platform https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_156 https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo_156 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa_Romeo https://www.media.stellantis.com/em-en/heritage/press/storie-alfa-romeo-eighth-episode-design-sportiness-and-innovation-the-156-was-an-authentically-successful-alfa-romeo https://it.motor1.com/news/232692/alfa-romeo-156-la-storia/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_emissions_scandal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_C-platform https://web.archive.org/web/20110723010156/http://www.alfa156.net/fr_index.html?%2Fhistory.html https://web.archive.org/web/20120101114528/http://www.caroftheyear.org/previous-winners/1998_1/coty https://web.archive.org/web/20140812070217/http://www.alfaromeopress.com/press/article/258 https://web.archive.org/web/20070928083305/http:/www.autoweb.com.au/cms/A_51082/title_Unique%20Performance%20Automatic%20Gearboxes%20for%20the%20New%20Alfa%20Romeo%20156/newsarticle.html https://www.studiotorino.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=510:19980202-156-sw-2&catid=50&lang=en&Itemid=840 https://www.fcaheritage.com/en-uk/heritage/stories/alfa-romeo-156-superturismo https://www.autointell.com/News-2001/May-2001/May-2001-3/May-16-01-p3.htm #bigcar