Full details and photos with the Pininfarina 2uettottanta Concept have just been revealed by the well known Italian design studio.
The Pininfarina 2uettottanta Concept features a futuristic and attractive design, and its name points out to the legendary Dueto prom where inspiration was drawn.
Also as a tribute to both Pininfarina and Alfa Romeo, two iconic brands that celebrate 80 and 100 years of existence, the Pininfarina 2uettottanta Concept will have compete against Bertone and Giugiaro for designing the Alfa Romeo 159 replacement.
As Pininfarina says the the 2uettottanta
does not necessarily want only to impress at first glance, but as its design will gradually reveal all
its values and make its style eternal.
Pininfarina press release :
To mark its 80th anniversary, Pininfarina proposes an “open” Alfa Romeo that is exciting and a delight to drive
For those who still like to dream in a car. For those looking for a
mixture of vanity, entertainment, and the pleasure of life in the open
air. For those who love icons as the greatest expression of the age we
live in. For those who want their cars to be an uncommon sensory
experience in terms of both style and driving, without being obsessed
by performance. For those who want to be excited by a dynamic, sporty
car that transmits the exclusiveness and refinement typical of an Alfa Romeo spider designed by Pininfarina.
For all of them, we present the 2uettottanta.
2uettottanta: a name that evokes the legendary Duetto, but also the years of activity at Pininfarina,
which launches the celebrations for its 80th anniversary with this
concept car. And it has decided to do so with a type of car that is by definition, the work of Pininfarina: an Alfa Romeo spider.
A very Italian product, which has become an export brand, representing
the inexhaustible talent that the whole world associates with Italy.
The 2uettottanta reflects Pininfarina’s determination to look to the future with optimism following tradition, restating its excellence in design and its acknowledged capacity for aesthetic and technological innovation. It is a concept that represents an innovative approach, projected into the third millennium, to a topic that is firmly rooted in Pininfarina history, the 2-seater spider.
And like the best Alfa Romeo sports cars to come from Pininfarina’s
pencil, the 2uettottanta exalts the driving experience and concentrates
on the excitement of being at the wheel of an open car with a great
aesthetic personality. It is a car that can make people dream and
excites even after many years. The icon of a lifestyle
that harks back to a lively, tumultuous period. Like the Duetto of the
Sixties, which helped to establish a trend based on the themes of
rebellion and escape, thanks to the film “The Graduate”.
The 2uettottanta is also a tribute to Alfa Romeo, which celebrates its centenary in 2010: the alliance between Alfa Romeo and Pininfarina
is one of the most significant and durable in the history of the car,
one of men and of passion, of design and cutting-edge technical
solutions, which has generated an inestimable number of good-looking,
innovative cars with plenty of temperament. With a predilection for
sports cars and convertibles. The aim is to replicate all this with the
2uettottanta. So a clean, elegant line was chosen for this "simple 2-seater",
which is proposed with a 1750 cc turbo engine positioned
longitudinally, an obvious reference to the “1750 Veloce” of 1968, one
of the many versions derived from the famous “Osso di Seppia”
(Cuttlefish). With its red bodywork, inspired by the typical Alfa Romeo
paintwork, the 2uettottanta is 1797 mm wide, 4212.6 mm long, 1280 mm
high and has a wheelbase of 2500 mm.
The pleasure of driving and feeling in harmony with nature is transformed into light, sleek, refined volumes, and shapes that seem to slip through the air easily. This generates the theme of this concept: the expression of a single volume,
which is some way from the ground and suspended. The 2uettottanta
almost seems to lift up from the ground “going further”. It is an
optical effect achieved thanks to a line that crosses the whole car horizontally. An uninterrupted sign applied to dynamic, sporty proportions
– typical of Alfa Romeo spiders – accentuated by the configuration of
the passenger compartment, which is shifted significantly to the rear.
The force of the design lies in its exaltation of simplicity, which does not need to show its muscles but concentrates purely on agility and harmony.
The front end
of the 2uettottanta underlines its true Alfa Romeo character. The
design is simple, with a central line that runs smoothly along the nose
of the car, while the execution of the surfaces is more sophisticated.
At the centre, in full view, and anything but a purely decorative
element, is the Alfa Romeo shield, which seems to
emerge from the heart of the car and to stretch outwards, in
Pininfarina’s futuristic, three-dimensional approach. The shield is
made of aluminium and incorporates floating horizontal flaps. On either
side are the two triangular lateral air intakes. The two elements
impressed on the imposing bonnet create a natural link between the logo
and the large windscreen, which has been designed as a ring in
hand-beaten aluminium that emerges from the body of the car without
interrupting its flow. The front headlights, which adopt the latest LED
technologies, are embedded under the line that gives the whole car its
character. A strip of carbon in the lower part of the front acts as an
air splitter, channelling the air to the rear end of the car.
The side
view of the car, where the theme of the single volume is repeated,
highlights the flowing line of the whole, with the shapes merging
naturally. The horizontal line “cut” into the sides gives a sense of
great dynamism; it starts from the front wheelarch and extends back to
the rear wheel. Like an athlete, for a car, being slim also means
achieving aerodynamic efficiency. Pininfarina has
always strived for natural shapes that can convey efficiency and
respect of the environment, an approach confirmed by its great
commitment to the theme of eco-sustainable mobility.
The 2uettottanta is in perfect harmony with nature, becoming the formal
expression of a response to the needs of our day: it is an arrow that
flies through the wind almost without encountering resistance.
Smooth, essential, soft surfaces even at the rear,
which echoes the front, albeit with slightly more emphasis on the
muscles. The design combines stylistic simplicity with a strong
character in the volumes and proportions, with details designed to
underline the car’s dynamic, light personality. The two bumps seem to
emerge from the volume, becoming floating wings that create the
roll-over bars behind the seats. At either end, these bars generate an
appendix designed to hold the seat belts. Even at the rear the light
clusters are slender and embedded under the line that defines the whole
section.
Great attention went into the design of the interior.
The result is a spacious, comfortable passenger compartment, conceived
with light, dynamic volumes, which envelop the occupants in a strong,
reassuring embrace. The shapes are sewn into the leather, incorporating
the touch controls: in its functions, the 2uettottanta is faithful to
its vocation as a car designed to be a delight to drive. The facia
extends fluidly to the sides merging into the doorway as the natural
continuation of the volume of the car, thus creating a perfect
symbiosis between exterior and interior. The dashboard has a
driver-oriented configuration with an innovative approach to the
classical circular Alfa Romeo “tubes” that contain the instruments. The
tunnel contains the Alfa DNA gear selector in an ergonomic position;
this varies the set-up of the car in three modes, Dynamic, Normal and
All Weather, adapting the behaviour of the various systems on the
vehicle (engine, transmission, suspension, steering, brakes, etc.) to
the demands of the driver and the different driving conditions. The
tunnel runs through the passenger compartment and it gives structure to
the chassis, revealing the carbon elements: the choice of this material
reflects Pininfarina’s constant research into alternative materials
that can make vehicles lighter, reducing consumption and emissions.
Another strong element of the interior is the steering wheel, which is
a modern interpretation of the Duetto’s perforated three-spoke wheel,
with the addition of a shift paddle for sequential control of the
dual-clutch gearbox. An enjoyable drive and comfort are also guaranteed
by the anatomical sporty seats. All the interior of the car “floats”:
the ventilation ducts are positioned between the passenger compartment
and the hull.
The size and design of the tyres, which were created specifically for the 2uettottanta in collaboration with Dunlop,
accentuate the impression of strong character and force given by the
car. The tyres are of the low profile type, right on the extreme edges
of the plane view: designed by Pininfarina to incorporate the
innovative technologies developed by Dunlop, their graphics reflect
those of the car. Their aerodynamic shape and very smooth lateral
profile, guarantee better roadholding and less resistance to air, thus
reducing consumption. The rims are treated in aluminium in harmony with
the rest of the car, and are a free interpretation of the classic
five-circle Alfa Romeo pattern, revealing the high performance
carbo-ceramic Alfa Romeo brakes by Brembo.
The 2uettottanta is not a pure styling exercise, but also a project and research:
the goal is to grasp the spirit of the spider in the configuration, the
proportions and the conception of the car as well as in its stylistic
imprint. This working method is part of Pininfarina’s genes.
For this project, the Pininfarina creative team were given carte
blanche to express the values inherent in the Alfa spider “by
Pininfarina”, the values that are deemed to have made the Giulietta
Spider or the Duetto all-time classics. To achieve this result, the car
was given a particular set-up, with a low centre of gravity and a
passenger compartment that is very exposed so as not to isolate the
occupants from the surrounding environment. The result is to bring the
road “nearer” to the eyes of the driver and to increase the sense of
dynamism even at low speed.
What is the 2uettottanta effect? Desire.
Whoever sees it “must” possess it, drive it, enjoy it. Because the
2uettottanta is not an unattainable dream. Nor does the 2uettottanta
only want to impress at first glance, but to achieve a beauty that does
not strive solely for immediate confirmation, but gradually reveals all
its values and transfers them to the future, making the style eternal.
As it did in the case of the Duetto, which continues to be celebrated
as an icon of design after more than 40 years.
Pininfarina 2uettottanta Video :
