Geneva 2010: Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept reaffirms our love of car shows

Jonny Lieberman — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:58:00 EST

Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupe, Geneva Motor Show, Europe, Alfa Romeo

Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept -- Click above for high-res image gallery

Even though our colleague Paul Esienstein might not agree, car shows serve a few pretty great purposes. Besides reuniting with old colleagues, pressing manufacturers' flesh and geeking out over (certain) booth babes, it's the wild and well done concept cars that get our juices flowing the fastest. Take the Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept from all-star design house Bertone. It rocks.

When we first saw the Panidon images we were less than impressed. Yeah, the shape was good, as Stile Bertone kept this far out show car classically proportioned (low, long hood, short deck, big wheels). But something didn't quite click. Then we walked past the Pandion during the press conference and did a big double take. Whoa. You know what didn't click? The doors, as they were closed in the press pictures.

First of all, reverse-hinged scissor doors are the coolest Bertone show car feature since they debuted the Lamborghini Countach's front-hinged scissor doors at the 1973 Geneva Motor Show. Not only are the rear-hinged doors cool, they're massive, sticking about ten-feet straight up in the air. In case you've read this far and haven't looked at the above photo (fat chance, we know) the doors include part of the front fender. Very, very cool says us.

Also spectacular is the rear end of this sucker. It looks as if someone tossed a softball through a stained glass window and hit pause. Hundreds of tiny shards of shattered... stuff (carbon fiber, magnesium - you tell us) appear to be frozen in mid-explosion. It's something TVR might have come up with if a second generation Sagaris had come to fruition. The rear end is different, fabulously so, and to reiterate the title of this here post, it's why we love covering these manic car shows so dang much. Be sure to check out the albino HR Giger-skeleton interior and the flippin' wheels, which replicate the smashing rear end. As they say here in certain parts of Switzerland, tres magnifique! Or, in Alfa Romeo's native tongue, countach!

Gallery: Geneva 2010: Bertone Pandion

Gallery: Stile Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept

Geneva 2010: Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept reaffirms our love of car shows originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bertone's Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept leaks ahead of Geneva

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:24:00 EST

Filed under: Concept Cars, Coupe, Geneva Motor Show, Alfa Romeo

Stile Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept leaked images - Click above for image gallery

The raging torrent of pre-Geneva Motor Show leaks is officially in full effect today as a series of images showing off Bertone's new Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept have hit the Interwebs (thanks Unica-Strada!) First of all, what the heck is a Pandion? Simple: a type genus of the Pandionidae. Mmm hmm. That'd be an osprey, sometimes known as a fish hawk. Moving on, then.

To our eyes, the Pandion isn't really what we've come to expect from Alfa Romeo, at least not styling-wise. The Italian marque's classically flowing curves are present and accounted for, but they are bisected by swaths of what appears to be clear plastic. The rear-view is especially busy - kinda like it's fashioned from hundreds of containers worth of Tinker Toys. Oh, and fans of Battlestar Galactica are sure to appreciate the Pandion's head-on view.

Stile Bertone - which until recently was led by Jason Castriota, the man responsible for such far-out designs as the Alfa 8C-based B.A.T. 11 and the Corvette ZR1-based Mantide - penned the Pandion, and we do see some influence from the styling house's past designs. We don't yet know what's underhood of the uniquely styled concept, or really anything else about it not revealed by these images. That said, see for yourself below and, as always, let us know what you think in the Comments.

Gallery: Stile Bertone Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept

[Source: Unica-Strada]

Bertone's Alfa Romeo Pandion Concept leaks ahead of Geneva originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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