Alfa Romeo Designer Says Giulia Was Inspired By 156, Not BMW’s 3-Series

It’s no secret that Alfa Romeo’s new Giulia QV model was conceived

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by Bogdan Zoltan

November 10, 2015 at 02:32

It’s no secret that Alfa Romeo’s new Giulia QV model was conceived to take on the German’s big three luxury carmakers. Many believe that the Italians were inspired by the BMW 3-Series, but Alfa says otherwise.

The firm’s design chief, Alessandro Maccolini, doesn’t want to hear about it, and according to Autonews, he stated that, “We did not copy a BMW. We took inspiration from our past, specifically from the 156”.

The comments were made during a speech held to the car design community in Mantova, Italy, last month, where it was also mentioned that Alfa Romeo would be pleased if the Giulia could match the success of the 156, which in 2000, achieved 120,000 global sales.

If you think about it, the Giulia’s style, especially the front fascia, does resemble the original Walter de’Silva-designed 156 – a car that sunned everybody with its beauty at the time of launch and won the “best car of the year” award in 1998.

Granted, there are some design similarities between the 3-Series and the Giulia, mainly because both cars are strategically aimed at the same, “pure-bred, sporty-sedan” segment, but besides a few aggressive traits and style cues (like the headlights, for instance), each automobile has its own character.