Alfa Romeo Sportut by Bertone
Car of the Day #175: 1997 Alfa Romeo Sportut by Bertone – Crossover Wildcard
An off-roader I’ve long thought would be a slam dunk is a reborn Alfa Romeo Matta, based on the Jeep Wrangler platform and powered by a range of engines, from PHEV to V8.
There’s your premium, European, Raptor-ized Ford Bronco, ja?
More importantly: Does “Dakar-ready Alfa Romeo” make anyone else here weak in the tonales?
A vehicle like that, designed to both jump curbs in front of the former Hoonigan office and haul ass around a cross country course, would be one I'd look twice at — every time.
Give the race trucks Repsol sponsorship, invite Valentino Rossi to do Dakar; forget chasing after the latest BMW SUV’s road test scores…why is Alfa Romeo not out dune’n?
“Apart from the last two months, when his health conditions worsened, Nuccio personally followed the project, which began to be worked on in the spring of 1996. It was his idea: he wondered why leave only to Japanese manufacturers (such as Toyota, which in 1994 had launched the RAV4, ed) the production of SUVs, which at that time we were beginning to have good success even in Europe.” – Beppe Panicco, as told to Quattroruote.it in 2017
Less than twenty years ago, Bertone showed the Alfa Romeo Sportut.
To start with, its face is Nissan Juke meets Jeep Grand Cherokee, only the smoked marker lights are mounted above the hood, in JDM-style forward mounted side mirrors! *faints in car nerd*
“…think of it as a Tonale dressed for The Met Gala, not an Alfa Romeo SUV imported from Detroit.”
Based on the compact Alfa Romeo 145, the Sportut was envisioned to be more like the contemporary mall-sized Mazda CX-3 to be stamped out by the thousands, and less a niche off-road beast built to climb Glamis, California’s China Wall.
With all-wheel-drive, 5-speed manual, and 155 horsepower 2.0-litre 4-cylinder engine, however, Sportut still would have been a fun truck to drive around in. If only that combination wasn't so rare in a ’ute…
Its two-tone finish, rims, and spare tire-aping hatch are quite ’90s, but the overall size and idea could turn heads even today…think of it as a Tonale dressed for The Met Gala, not an Alfa Romeo SUV imported from Detroit.
