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Marek Paczynski Senior Designer, Basten Greenhill Andrews

Designing cars is child’s play, or at least it should be. I’ve been

doing it since I could hold a crayon. It’s a simple exercise made to

look impossibly complicated due to current demands that cars have to

appeal to so many people most of the time. And the result: the Blob and

Cosy Curves from Outer Space Inc.

Large manufacturers indulge in concept cars to prove they are not

boring, but these exercises don’t carry the ‘art’ of automobile design

any further than a day trip to Bognor. Proper car design should express

the function and, most importantly, the simple fact that the damn things

move forward and should not look like a prostrate armchair on Tamazipan.

Now let me introduce you to an example of proper car design: the new

Alfa Romeo GTV. A car designed and built with pleasure for your

unadulterated pleasure in the way it looks and drives. No fashionable

‘blob’ this; Alfa has rediscovered its bloodline. It has paid homage to

the simple lines of the 1966 Pininfarina Spider Duetto and reinterpreted

the simplicity of the theme.

The car has unapologetic drama, tension and boldness written all over

it, the most obvious cue being the deeply creased line that runs from

the bumper to the c-pillar and then wraps itself around the rear screen.

There is a secondary crease that follows the upper line that gently

falls away above the rear wheel arch to form the rear wing and abruptly

stops at the sharply-inclined boot.

What we have here is a genius at work, called Enrico Fumia. From the

taut and thrust-ridden rear of the car those two lines drive the car

forward into the gorgeous breaking wave of the front wing. Along the

journey we come across some beautifully curved and volumed bodywork

around the rear wheel and door. The car is doing 60 standing still.

The key is that Mr Fumia has had the courage to mix curves with sharp

lines, a long-forgotten art. He has followed his heart, expressed his

passion and opened up his soul to the task.

Every time I see a picture of one I become a child again and make ‘oooh’

and ‘corrr’ noises. This little Alfa demonstrates there are some

designers who have their heart in the right place.