Alfa Romeo 33 Hybrid, 10 years before the Prius!!

At the end of the 80s the tendency to develop hybrid propulsion cars is still far from taking hold. In Italy, Alfa Romeo does not escape the great season of privatization and, after decades of ups and downs spent in the cauldron of state-owned companies, in 1986 it passes from IRI to Fiat.
At the research center of the Milanese House we are working relentlessly: in addition to the design of a new front-wheel drive sedan, the 164, the Biscione technicians are concentrating their efforts on developing an alternative system of driving. So, a traditionally-oriented brand dedicated to the creation of sports and racing models, launches headlong into the hybrid challenge.

And it chooses to do it with its more "popular" model: it is the 33, the "attacking" Alfa, to be used as a vehicle-laboratory.
The project of a city-sized car, with low polluting emissions and a good load capacity, is then carried forward.
There are those who say that the choice of the "Sport Wagon" little garden configuration is not at all random: if the car will be fine, it is said around, a fleet of taxis will be made to serve the main Italian cities.

Under the bonnet starts with a trademark trademark, the tried-and-tested "Alfasud" boxer - here in the 95 bhp version 1.5 -, which is combined with a three-phase asynchronous electric motor (16 hp and 6.1 kgm of torque) supplied by Ansaldo of Genoa. The CEM system (Electronic Engine Control) - which debuted in 1983 on the Alfetta - manages in an integrated way injection and ignition, thus increasing the efficiency of the internal combustion engine.
The electric unit is coupled to the gearbox by means of a toothed belt: the car can therefore move forward only from the electric motor, from the petrol engine or - and here is the sense of hybrid propulsion - from both.

Without dubs not producing at least one small series was a lost opportunity.
The 33 Hybrid could be done, all right: the project was absolutely "realistic", with changes to the body of minimum series and a weight increase of only 150 kg (110 batteries, 20 engine and 10 for power electronics) .
Not to mention the fact that he was able to travel up to 60 km / h in electric mode, with a range of 5 km, really not bad for the time. The hybrid Alfa built three prototypes, three 33 different from each other.
A half-dream in that of Arese, which still bears witness to the spirit of innovation and the pursuit of technological excellence that have always distinguished the Casa del Biscione.