Mixing Talents - Alfa Romeo Arna
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Buongiorno! :D
Perhaps this car's biggest claim to fame is when Jeremy Clarkson blew one up with a grenade, but behind this somewhat obscure car is a very complicated story, where in a joint-venture between Nissan and Alfa Romeo, which should have married Japanese mechanical wizardry with Italian style flare, instead got its priorities the wrong way round, culminating in a very odd and very unreliable machine.
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References:
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Thanks Ruairidh - fascinating as always!
Woah! The Big Car Seal of Approval! That's high praise :)
I'm italian, i was a kid back then when the Arna was launched. I remember in school every kid who's father got an Arna being mocked by everyone else
I remember Clarkson joking about this car on Top Gear "styled by Nissan, built by Alfa Romeo"
It was james may who said that.
@@aleronhawk True, and sadly he was right.
AlfaSud with Nissan running gear and electrics could have been a big hit.
Nissan building it would be an education for all.
Yes, let Alfa do the styling, and let Nissan do the important bits; the engineering and construction.
Alfa flat four were excellent, while Nissan I4 were nothing to write home about. Alfa suspension and drivetrain built by Nissan would have been a win.
reminds me of one of the Top Gear Trio's comments about it (i think it was Jezza who said it) - if it was Italian craftsmanship and Japanese engineering paired together it would've been heavenly, but it was the other way around and it ended up being a disaster. something along the lines of that. and of course in typical Clarksonian fashion he proceeded to destroy one.
Ah, yes, the car designed by Nissan and built by Alfa Romeo. 11/10 for all the executives who thought that this was a good idea. What in the world were they thinking?
lots of sake on both sides when they made this deal.
I don’t have much hands on with the ARNA, but the Sud was the best handing car I ever drove at that time, almost telepathic steering and sounded fabulous. It even got quicker every day because of the rate that it was rusting away!
Imagine what could have been.
An italian design and handling hatchback, Japanese electrics and quality control.
They would have striked also in Italy but now because they couldn't keep up demand!
While the horror that the Arna represented is a bastion of motor industry folklore - I hadn’t realised the politics that existed and how it aided Nissan in other areas - thank you for a very interesting video that gave me a fresh perspective on what at the time looked like lunacy!
I think Nissan knew they Arna would be terrible, but it have them access to Europe, and knowledge on how to make a European car, which is much more important
We briefly had the Cherry Europe as the family car, replacing our Morris Marina. Both cars were terrible, terrible cars and my dad was no longer allowed to go out and buy a car on his own.
Mums the word
I’ll bet he got a fabulous trade in on the Marina though.
Which car did your parents buy after all? ^~^ I am curious.
@@Vixen1525 A Nissan Micra - car theft was never a problem for them.
@@stevecooksley Nice, like the Vauxhall Corsa C my dad has
How on earth did they get it that way round: Japanese styling and Italian mechanicals? It looks as though management in Europe was as hopeless as British management at that time!
Thank you for this video. I had actually heard of the Nissan Cherry Europe before, but not that it was originally an Alfa Romeo.
The Sunderland plant was regarded as a boutique venture but is now the most productive car producer in Europe. A real winner.
I very much enjoy your videos, mate. No nonsense and very informative. Keep it up!
Ah, yes, I remember this one. Being in the US, I never had a chance to drive one, but I remeber seeing my first picture of the Arna and thinking it was the most pedestrian Alfa I had ever seen. I kind of assumed Alfa would make the engine and Nissan the drivetrain and mechanicals. I was kind of shocked when I found it that Nissan was just going to supply what was a Cherry in pieces while Alfa was going to keep on with all the mechanicals they had been doing such a poor job at. If it was fast, like most Alfas of the day, that would have helped, but the car was a slug on top of its other faults. Given the never ending labor wars in Alfa, I often wondered if Alfa workers took to sneaking communist leaflets in the glove boxes. :-)
It was like the NUMMI Chevrolet Nova, except if it had an Iron Duke instead of the Toyota A-type engine.
History repeat: I drive, as a daily driver, one Fiat Cinquecento 170 from 1994. Now, that is a Fiat built by FSM, ex FSO, ex Polonez. The car is 30 years old since 8/11/2024, so qualifies as an oldtimer. The first ever time I saw the underside of my car, I was shocked. No Italian car would ever look so new underneath. Not a spot of rust, just perfect and totally nothing to complain. So, I deduct from that, that an Italian car NOT built by Italians might be a lot better. I keep it in pristine condition at all times and since I am the second hand owning it, I will cherish it to my last meter driven.
They should have just called it the Alfa Chud and had done. Great content as per mate.
Alfa Dud?
@@kineticdeath touche
and finally the japanese car makers are starting to make some actually good looking mainstream cars too, like the Mazda 3 and the new Camrys (in my opinion at least)
I never saw or even heard of the Arna. The Escort Mk III came out in 1980, however, and I had one of those. Strangely, it looked almost identical to the alleged Arna, and was cheap, quick and reliable. QED.
I worked at a Ford dealership at this time and needed to rent a car for a long trip. The company hire department didn’t have an Escort available, so they cross-hired a Nissan Cherry for me, it was far superior.
As of 2020 there are 3 on SORN with none licensed on the road in the UK but there is one for sale in Italy on ebay
Brilliant work again mate, thanks a lot !!
Happy Saturday morning all, a new Rory! It's a brilliant start to a weekend, thank you deary!! Love, Aunt Barbara 👵😚
My neighbour here in Sydney, Australia, had an Alfasud which for its age was woefully unreliable, & becoming a real rust-bucket due to the light, low-quality steel used in its construction!
Australia was spared this version.We already had the Pulsar and the Cloned very first Holden Astra versions of that car(Holden could not afford to go to Opel for the Kadett when it was time to move on from the T Series Gemini's for the 80's)which was a good thing.my old man had two Alfa Sud Sprints which were great when running well but were responsible for the oil stains in the home garage.I often ask what was my late father thinking with those cars.a more sensible come the time we bought the second alfa in 1983 when it was time to replace the one we had ifrom 1980-1983 would have either been a KB Ford Laser S or a Mitsubishi Cordia GSL or even a Renault Fuego.
@@franzchong5889 I know as my ex-wife's sister had one of those Pulsars you mentioned. It was cheaper to service it with the Astra parts from GMH, but none of the panels & lights were interchangeable!
Imagine a baby with the looks of stephen hawking and the brains of Kiley Jenner
I'm glad it wasn't just the UK car industry that didn't have the beginnings of the first idea about considering having half a clue on car building
That doesn't even make grammatical sense.
@@jimtaylor294 It may not be grammatical, but it's certainly linguistically logical. Intentional mangling of grammar for humourous effect is a long standing form.
Err nope; it isn't.
It's also not true; as the UK had less strikes and higher productivity than Italy during the same period... and the Austin Allegro at least refused to rust, while the Alfa Sud was dissolving in real time at the first sign of drizzle XD.
If you ever driven both, besides the fact that the car is not really exciting at all, I think the Arna was better than the Cherry. The boxer engine was lower down and the weight was much better. Side note, my experience with the Arna goes back to the day when the Arnas were brand new. They never had an age to start going wrong.
Bravo.
In fact ARNA was an improved Cherry, which finally had road holding. At Alfa they redesigned the suspension and misrrod their boxers which were great. Nissan taught paint treatments.
I actually think this car looks good. It was the car ( I mean the Cherry) I actually aspired to, but eventually I gave it a miss due to poor rusting feedback.
Another quality video thank you!
*Just a correction Ruairidh,* the EU didn't come into existence until 1992. This superseded the EEC which was the main body for overseeing the European common market, at the time the Triumph Acclaim was launched.
Worked for Nissan when these came out.In the uk it was named Nissan Cherry Europe.Combination of unreliable Alfa electrics & terrible gear change with the bland Nissan styling.We had a hard time selling them on. Most ended up as demos. But the 1.5 Gti version was fun to drive & had the funky green seats.
My mother had an Arna. I liked it, but it always had problems.
As mentioned in another comment, several inaccuracies in the content, but not a bad effort. (Read the book)
FYI at the time of writing, August 2021, there are 2x Cherry europe and 1x Arna currently taxed, tested and on the road in the UK, with several others in safe hands with the view to restoration and return to the road.
Can I point out that the idea of getting in the European door by this way was the direct result of what BL was doing in Britain with Honda. So the knee one shoots at is you own British knee.
What a tragedy. Strange that Alfa did not partner with Subaru and Citroen to develop a new range of cars with Italian styling and the larger Subaru boxer engines.
I'm not sure I'd describe that lovely flat 4 Alfa engine as one of their worst aspects but yeah I agree. Ugly and unreliable is not a recipe for large sales numbers or for a good reputation...
Hearing your voiceover, I keep thinking it’s called Arno like the river. I wonder if that’s where they got the name though?
Also yikes, Alfa electrics? What were they thinking?
I just realised it’s the same name as the joint venture company, just not in all caps. Lol. Nevertheless, I wonder if there is still a connection there, as they could’ve called the company NARA instead.
When I saw it, I immediately thought of the Talbot Sunbeam...
i thought nissan cherry. friends had a metallic green one, nice little motor :)
edit - hey i was right :)
I had the Nissan GTI version and it went well. Had a few cars and TBH the Nissan was good enough car.
The Nissan Cherry was a rust bucket back then too......I preferred the Alfa 33 though...
Dear Ruairdh MacVeigh, can you please make a video about British rail RETB ( radio electronic token block)?
ISTR the Triumph Acclaim was advertised in Spain as 'really a Honda.' ("Soy la Honda Acclaim")
I have always believed that the much-blamed ARNA was an economical car with good technical content.
The result of a tangible improvement in road holding and engine in one of the most popular cars of the time, Datsun Cherry, which had excellent sheet metal but poor road holding!
There was an exchange between the 2 houses: Paint and metal treatment in favor of Alfa, mechanics and suspension in favor of Nissan.
Why does everyone criticize Arna and nobody cares about that trivial Cherry car (which was among the best-selling cars in the world at that time even though it didn't keep the road)?
Why no mention of rust, that was the biggest downfall of Alfa and Lancia.
Now, where is my hand grenade...?
Conclusion: This car was made to be a loophole, so japanese cars could get into Europe, and they done that by taking advantage of a cripled italian car company.
No wonder they never combined their strenghts to make this car something greater; in fact, Nissan never needed Alfa to survive, as they could have pulled the same deal with someone else.
The italians could've been more demanding, but I bet they were so desperate that anything looked like a great deal for them; if FIAT didn't stepped in, Alfa would've went bankrupt after this mess.
Ah yes, the car that was built the wrong way round.
Not Either companies greatest moment!
It sounds like Nissan knew exactly what they were doing with this one. It's still paying dividends for them nearly 4 decades later.
I think an ARNA with a Sprint Trofeo engine could easily beat an AE 86 in Initial D. Pizza delivery !!
If Operation Gladio had a car, it would be the Arna.
An old joke:
In heaven, the French are the cooks, the British are the policemen, the Germans the engineers, the Italians the lovers and the Swiss the politicians.
In hell, the French are the engineers, the British the cooks, the Germans the policemen, the Italians the politicians and the Swiss the lovers.
Alfa Romeo marketing people be screaming into a pillow........
This was a very poor decision, I mean did they not stop and look while "designing" it? But I will commend Nissan for being able to escape this dreadful thing with minimal damage and successfully venturing into the European market
I had the misfortune to get one of these as a rental car. It was an unpleasant experience.
Here's a suggestion for getting the pronunciation right: if it doesn't slip easily off the tongue it's probably wrong and you should check it. This isn't foolproof but it'll catch a good few.
That's what he said
I owned one and never had a problem, sorry I sold it
They really did get that completely backwards, didn't they? Instead of playing to the companies "strengths", which weren't that strong, Nissan (Datsun at the time in the States} was OK mechanically, but not really Toyota or Honda quality, and Alfa was a style leader even if their cars did leave a trail of oxidation crumbs behind them right from the factory, so Nissan who made very structurally weak and bland designs at the time 300Z not withstanding, and Alfa, well it is an Alfa, you better be friends with Giasseppe the only guy who knows how to get them going again.
Wow. Who would have thought that overly aggressive unions could have destroyed major car companies? Live and learn. 🤔
Heavy sarcasm implied...
Dont forget, it was nationalized, too...so government ownership and management. Thats three strikes.
OZY-185 A New South Wales(Australia) Registration plate. About the only thing of any value to be seen on these pretentious little Italian buggies. (6:50)
Alfa Arna is an absolute classic.... example of how not to do it. I'd buy one if one came to my attention.
car industry struggling? militant unions? Nooooo
They should have made a GTV with GTR guts
I would never buy italian cars unless it’s made by the germans
TANK's for sharing==========
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nothing has really changed there.I did consider getting a new Fiat when the brand was relaunched in Australia in 2006 but problems my family had with Italian Cars put me off.Did Consider testing out a Punto but went witb a Nissan Tiida instead which as embarrassing as it was for men to be driving those was a lot better if a bit of a dogs breakfast at times.
This is just the usual ill informed nonsense. The Arna was indeed bland to look at but it was decently built, reliable and handled very well. The 'unreliable Alfasud electrics'? Really? What were they then?