Alfa Romeo starts 2003 with three prestigious awards

Alfa Romeo could not have made a better start to the new year; in fact, in the first two months of 2003, the Alfa 147 and the Alfa Romeo Brera have both won prestigious awards.
First the Alfa Romeo Brera, the first car in the world to win the 'Automotive News Concept Car of the Year' award in the two categories 'Best exterior design' and 'Best concept car of the year'. The ceremony was held in Detroit on January 8, during the Autoweek Design Forum in the COBO Center (the venue of the North American International Auto Show 2003), in the presence of over 700 international representatives of the world's best known car makers and of the most important trade papers.
This prestigious prize comes on the heels of the great success and other international awards that have been heaped on the Alfa Romeo Brera in its one year of life. It made its debut at the 2002 Geneva Motor Show and has received: the 'Best of Show' title awarded by Autoweek magazine at the Geneva Show, the 'Best of Show' in the Prototype category at the Villa d'Este Concours d'Élégance, awards in 2 categories at the 2002 Bibendum Challenge, one as 'one of the most elegant in the world', and the title of 'the most fascinating car' at the 2002 Paris to Monte Carlo Super Car Rally. It is also one of the candidates for the Automobilia prize 'The most beautiful car in the world'.
A piece of Giorgio Giugiaro magic, this prototype is a perfect blend of sportiness and elegance, performance and balanced lines. In other words, it has all the distinctive features of an Alfa Romeo. And the styling of the Brera will be adopted by the coupé of the new family that will replace the Alfa 156 in 2005. And while we are on the subject of the 156, this car has won no fewer than 36 international awards: from 'Car of the Year 1998' to 'Auto Europa 1 - 1998', 'Best Compact Executive 1998' and 'The cars I prefer 2000'.
From the Alfa Romeo Brera to the Alfa 147. Appealing styling, a great temperament and superb engineering: these are the strengths that have enabled the Alfa 147 to win over a vast, heterogeneous public. Qualities to which the car adds stylish, well finished interiors and an extremely comprehensive array of electronic and computer equipment.
These are the characteristics that have resulted in a double success for Alfa Romeo recently.
In February, for the third year in a row, the readers of Quattroruote voted it 'The car that I prefer' among the cars in the 'medium-small' category. It was chosen by 31.7% of the 60,000 participants in the competition held by the specialist monthly. And we must not overlook the enormous gap that separated it from two French rivals which took second and third place, with 10.3% and 8.7% of the votes.
The Alfa 147 won another important title in Germany where, for the third year running, it was the 'Best Car' in the 'Importers - lower-middle' class, being voted by 27.3% of the almost 110,000 readers of the magazine 'Auto, Motor und Sport'.
These are two important awards which join the 21 international titles already won by the Alfa 147. They include: 'Car of the Year 2001', 'Golden Steering Wheel 2000', 'Auto Europa 1' (awarded in 2001 by the readers of eight European magazines) and the 'Trophées du design 2000'. And between 2000 and 2002, the model collected several prizes and titles in Japan, Argentina and Brazil. In Brazil for example, the Alfa 147 Selespeed was voted 'Imported Car of the Year in Brazil 2002'.


Turin, February 25, 2003