"Now, it might've worked if they married Japanese build quality, to Italian design flair, but they did it the other way around! So, what we ended up with, was a terribly ugly Nissan Cherry that had Alfasud electrics. Could you imagine anything, anything worse?"
-Jeremy Clarkson on the Arna
The Alfa Romeo Arna is a small hatchback built by Alfa Romeo with a brief partnership of the Japanese carmaker Nissan, named after the acronym Alfa Romeo Nissan Autoveicoli. It was built in response of the successful sales between the Volkswagen Golf and the Lancia Delta, and was at a time when some European markets imposed to ban imports, mainly Japanese cars, believing that these vehicles caused their sales and profits plummet.
The Arna is based on the former Nissan Cherry, as its only engine is a Boxer-4, similar to that used on the Alfasud, between 1.3-1.5 litres. The suspension is independent, while the brakes are sourced from Nissan, although the rest of the car is Alfa Romeo. The Arna's design is very boxy, and has the brand's traditional front-grille. Some markets briefly rebadged the Arna as the Cherry Europe.
In 1986, the Arna exhibited one of the car's biggest flaws, where its low quality steel bodywork is prone to corrosion. As a result of the Arna's failure, Nissan abandoned its partnership, formed European factories in Britain and Spain, and Alfa Romeo was suffering losses until Fiat acquired the brand.
Appearances[]
- In Clarkson's Car Years, Jeremy Clarkson expresses the biggest dismay besides forming a partnership between Alfa Romeo and Nissan. In the end, he throws a MK2 frag grenade (which takes almost half a minute for it to explode) until it gets obliterated as he walks away, mentioning that 340 are on the roads (at the time of the episode's airing).