Alfa Romeo Sportut (Bertone) (1997)

Alfa Romeo Sportut, 1997, by Bertone. A compact SUV prototype based on the Alfa Romeo 145. Though it was conceived as a productionisable concept, it never made it into production.

In the segment of crossovers, Alfa Romeo with the Stelvio model is currently catching up. But at the end of the nineties, everything could turn out to be exactly the opposite. The championship of the marque could be given to Nuccio Bertone, who created the Sportut concept two years before his death. The car turned out to be both elegant and suitable for series launch: it was based on the Alfa Romeo 145 platform, and its compact dimensions allowed it to compete with the Toyota RAV4.

As a power plant, a two-liter TwinSpark with a capacity of 150 horsepower was chosen, the gearbox is a five-speed “mechanics”, and all-wheel drive is at the head. It was not without bold solutions – the headlights are buried behind decorative sections (hello Alfa Romeo Montreal), the black element on the front door resembles today’s Range Rover, the rear door handles were hidden in the rear pillars, and the rear-view mirrors were placed on the wings. The fifth door turned out to be unusually large and boasted panoramic glass.

Alas, such an audacious project turned out to be beyond the means of Fiat, which already had financial difficulties.