Alfa Romeo 164

Vehicle Overview

The Alfa Romeo 164 is a four-door executive saloon that was manufactured by the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo from 1987 to 1998 designed by Pininfarina. The predecessors of the 164 were the Alfa 90 and the luxurious Alfa 6. The 164 was superseded by the 166 in 1998, after a combined production total of 273,857 units. In October 1978, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia and Saab jointly agreed to each develop an executive saloon based on their shared Type Four platform, to eventually compete against the likes of the Ford Granada and Opel Rekord (Vauxhall Carlton) as well as more premium saloons by BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the form of the 5 Series and E-Class, respectively. Project 164 started life as Project 156 (not to be confused with Alfa Romeo 156) and was completed in 1981, then still under Alfa Romeo. A year later, that project morphed into the 164 based on the Type Four platform. The new model was designed by Enrico Fumia of Pininfarina, with a wedge shape yielding it a drag coefficient of Cd=0.30. The design would later influence the rest of the Alfa Romeo range (starting in 1990 with the major redesign of the 33 and culminating with the 155. Ultimately unveiled at the 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show, the 164 was the last model to be developed while the Alfa Romeo was still a fully independent company, and was formally launched a few months after the takeover by Fiat.