ARNA

In 1980, Alfa Romeo of Italy and Nissan Motor Company of Japan formed a Joint Venture called Alfa Romeo Nissan Autoveicoli S.p.A. The new company built a factory near Naples and started to produce a car in 1983 named, rather unimaginatively, the ARNA.

Ostensibly, this could have been the killer app of the day; a car with Japanese reliability and Italian flair and style. I am not quite sure how much sake and vino was involved, but the JV saw fit to build a car with Japanese boxy looks and Italian reliability. According to the wiki article, "The ARNA featured tempestuous mechanicals and indifferent build quality courtesy of Alfa Romeo, married to a Nissan body of questionable build and frumpy styling, with insipid handling common to Japanese cars of the time." The writing was on the wall. The ARNA lived a short ignominious life, and was axed in 1986, unloved and unmissed.

I attended a seminar by Chris Bangle, the erstwhile design chief of BMW, a few years ago and he was speaking of how gorgeous Italian cars tend to be. "There was often a trade-off however," Chris Bangle told us. "You see, the Italians design with a flair only the Italians have. And they don't let engineering get in the way."

I thought that was funny at the time, but given the experience I have been having with a German car, I am beginning to believe this might be true of all European automobiles.