| Contribution of other Fiat companies
To develop this prestigious car, the company deployed its best resources and ensured that maximum quality and reliability standards were applied throughout the product development and construction process. It forged a fruitful cooperative relationship with outside suppliers and other Fiat companies, including Fiat Powertrain Technologies, Magneti Marelli, Centro Ricerche Fiat and Elasis. And this collaboration was responsible for the many innovative solutions that make the Alfa 159 Sportwagon the new benchmark in its category.
The Alfa Romeo Racing Teams
In the world of sport 'Alfa Romeo and innovation' make a strong team. Both as a sponsor and competing with its own Racing Teams, the brand and its athletes have promoted its winning spirit and its use of the most sophisticated technology. This is embodied in the Alfa Romeo Ski Racing Team, a group of eight slalom, downhill and SuperG experts (Giorgio Rocca, Kristian Ghedina, Massimiliano Blardone, Manfred Moelgg, Karen Putzer, Denise Karbon, and sisters Elena and Nadia Fanchini) and their trainers (Flavio Roda and Gustavo Thoeni). Alfa Romeo is also Official Supplier to the Luna Rossa Team that is taking part in the build-up to the prestigious 2007 America's Cup, and sponsors the 'Alfa Romeo' maxi-yacht of owner and skipper Neville Crichton, the boat which set new speed records in the past season, winning the Grand Slam and the most important high-sea regattas. And finally, the brand is sure to be one of the protagonists with its private team in the World Touring Car Championship and in the Tricolour with the 147 Cup.
Italian styling for a prestigious station wagon
Designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro in collaboration with the Alfa Romeo Style Centre, the Alfa 159 Sportwagon is 4,660 millimetres long, 1,828 mm wide and 1,425 mm high, with a wheelbase of 2,700 mm. It is as compact as the saloon - in fact the length of the two cars is exactly the same - and it has a split personality: it never forgets it is a sports car, nor does it compromise on the entertaining driving that is innate in every Alfa, but manages to multiply the versatility of the car to an extraordinary degree.
The new car is good-looking, strong, expressive and modern. Its beauty is expressed in the seduction of exciting all-Italian styling. Its strength lies in its technology and temperament, a traditional heritage of Alfa Romeo cars. Its expressiveness is the result of the vast range of engines, body-colours, outfits and options. And its modernity comes from a reinterpretation of traditional Alfa Romeo values from the viewpoint of modern lifestyles. The Alfa 159 Sportwagon combines these winning features with a luggage compartment that is a 'designed space' that meets a wide variety of requirements, whether it is used for business or for leisure time. And it never compromises where sportiness and performance are concerned.
The Italian styling of the Alfa 159 Sportwagon is developed around a single flowing line that runs without hesitation from nose to tail. A continuous pencil stroke which makes the car sporty and agile, but above all does not reveal where the original saloon ends and the 'extra volume' typical of the station wagon begins. This is the true strong point of the new model, which becomes all the more captivating where most station wagons reveal their main limitations. It is also the key to understanding the soul and character of the new model, on which a great deal of work was done to incorporate the extra volume into the lines of the station wagon. So it is not a car with an extra 'box' for loading, but a car with temperament, that adapts its interior roominess to different needs, thanks to its flexibility that allows it to be modified and divided in various ways.
The luggage compartment is more accessible than you would expect on a station wagon (both from the passenger compartment and from the back, thanks to the forward hinged tailgate). The boot of the 159 Sportwagon was designed precisely and rationally with geometries that waste no space. The sides of the loading volume were designed with boxed elements, and then covered with elements of different thicknesses, calculated so that they do not affect the insulating and sound-deadening properties, as they create more load capacity. This operation has produced a loading volume of 445 litres, plus various oddment compartments created by the intelligent use of space, for example under the brackets for the curtain that separates off the rear, and two closing compartments at the sides complete with nets. On request the luggage compartment can be fitted with containment nets anchored on the loading floor, the sill or behind the rear seats to prevent the load from shifting suddenly.
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