Filed under: Euro, Hatchbacks, Alfa Romeo
Online voters name upcoming Alfa hatch "Furiosa"
Furiosa. That's what the new hatchback from Alfa Romeo will be called, by virtue of an international competition to choose the car's name.
The Italian automaker is getting farther away from the Alfa-numeric (pun intended) nomenclature and giving its models more emotive nameplates instead. The web contest offered online voters a choice of twelve names, and Furiosa got the most votes, beating out Agea, Enos, Everson, Fira, Milo, Mod, Nevo, Solea, Sparvo, Velvetta and Ventura. While some proposals had merit, some of the rejected names were a little cheesy (try to figure out which).
So we can stop calling it the Alfa Junior. The Furiosa is anticipated to make its debut at the Geneva show in March. We're so there.
[Source: Motor Authority]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Atomicbri 8:08AM (11/21/2007)
Wish Fiat would get with it with Alfa, improve the quality and bring them over here to the states because their cars are gorgeous! Performance is excellent, but build is still suspect, unless the have like a 10yr/100K warranty or something.
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psarhjinian 8:20AM (11/21/2007)
You're asking FIAT to improve quality? That's like asking Toyota to dial up the passion, or GM to simplify it's product offering. Flakiness is so intertwined with Italian industry it's pratically part of it.
They make the British look decent and the French and Germans look like masters of QA. FIAT's only hope would be to get bought by Toyota, and Toyota's not that stupid.
Now, all that being said, Alfa makes some very nice cars (my cousin has a 157, which is just a joy to drive) and would make a credible VW/Acura competitor if brought over here. Shooting for MB/BMW/Lexus might be a stretch, but the next rung down has space to fight.
Will 9:02AM (11/21/2007)
Alfa is coming back to the States, starting with the 8C and later the Spider and Brera. Hopefully they will have a full product line over here within a few years, because this hatch looks excellent.
ThwartedEfforts 9:22AM (11/21/2007)
Congratulations, psarhjinian, you've managed to dismiss not only the world's largest and second and largest car makers but also about pretty much every European manufacturer as well. If only they'd listened to you!
psarhjinian 3:02PM (11/21/2007)
Why, thank you. I like to think of myself as an equal opportunity smart-alec. :)
k.w.a 8:16AM (11/21/2007)
i liked "Fira" ...that would have been a nice name for a hatchback. maybe that means something bad in some other country.
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FThorn 8:23AM (11/21/2007)
From a SKETCH, that looks good. We'll see if/when/how it translates into formed minerals on tree extracted circular traction devices.
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Paul 8:31AM (11/21/2007)
Wow... this post is a bit cheesy but I do love it.
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Alex 9:16AM (11/21/2007)
i would have voted for Agea.
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Sean Flanagan 9:34AM (11/21/2007)
I don't understand why the Italian companies get away with naming their cars with mundane words, just because the words are in Italian. If they were in English, they would sound awful. The Alfa Angry. Maserati Four Door. Ferrari 360 Dearborn. Fiat Big Point. Ferrari Red Head. The list goes on. I wonder what actual Italians (and perhaps Spanish or Portuguese speakers) think of the names, because the language doesn't sound exotic to them.
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Flea 11:20AM (11/21/2007)
as an Italian, I find the names to be pretty ok. Of course, there are old jokes here about how Fiat comes up with names for it's cars, but none are considered weird. Well, not any weirder than Toyota's Aygo, Yaris, Auris and gibberish.
The 360's name comes from a city's name, and 90% of Italian city names mean something in latin, and I'm surprised you find this weird. Did I mention we couldn't care less about a Ferrari's NAME?
There have been endless criticisms about the 12 selected names for the Alfa, half of which sounded like korean air conditioning units. Furiosa, while not being the best name possible, isn't that bad.
Sean Flanagan 11:57AM (11/21/2007)
I find the city name weird because, though I understand the history of them, you wouldn't find a non-Italian automaker naming their cars after the city in which they're headquartered. I mean Bentley Crewe, BMW Munich, Toyota Aichi, SEAT Martorell, Ford Dearborn all sound mundane, especially knowing the cities themselves. Though I do agree that I really don't care what they call a Ferrari, as long as it has the prancing horse on the back!
fsx 2:56PM (11/21/2007)
Volkswagen gets away with Golf, Polo and Rabbit. Don't those confuse you? I'm both Portuguese and Italian and the names you mentioned don't sound odd to me.
'Furiosa' doesn't sound silly to me, but I think this car deserves a better name.
Mike 9:35AM (11/21/2007)
Nice sketch and name but I wanna see sheet metal...we've all seen good concepts go bad...Jaguar XF anyone?
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Tim 9:41AM (11/21/2007)
You can't be seriousa.
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Rafa 10:23AM (11/21/2007)
What a silly name... furious
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Intrepido 10:41AM (11/21/2007)
Looks like a Volvo C30 to me...
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rsw 10:51AM (11/21/2007)
What an awesome and beautiful design! If you want beauty and passion, you have to go to the Italians! If the Japanese or Koreans ever actually put beautiful and creative design onto their flawless mechanicals, it would be a revolution indeed. Instead they are all absolutely drab, to a one (well maybe the Acura TL). One beautiful hatchback! Georgeous! Furiosa... sounds like a fruity soda.
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rsw 10:53AM (11/21/2007)
I was just remembering how much I wish we could see more of the beautiful (and somewhat quirky) Renault, Fiat, or Citroen/Peugeot designs here in the states. The new Fiat 500 would be a total home run in our present fuel thrifty market for example.
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seoultrain 11:57AM (11/21/2007)
Furiosa?
This is madness!
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