The car design community has recently suffered a great loss with the passing away of Alfa Romeo’s former chief stylist Ermanno Cressoni. After having battled cancer for thirteen months, Cressoni finally lay to rest on Thursday 30th June in Milan.

Affectionately referred to as ‘Arch’ by many of his designers at Alfa Romeo Centro Stile, Cressoni was responsible for a new direction of Alfa Romeo styling which can still be seen today in Alfa’s latest 159 and Brera. His success as a designer at Alfa Romeo and later at Fiat is often overlooked, most probably due to Cressoni’s team spirit which resulted in him cultivating talents such as Walter de Silva, Andreas Zapatinas and Chris Bangle.

At Centro Stile Alfa Romeo, Cressoni started by aiding in the design process of many legendary racing Alfa’s from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. He is also identified as the designer behind the famous GTV grille dating from the early ‘70s.

Becoming Alfa Romeo Centro Stile Director in the ‘70s, Cressoni directed the styling of the Alfetta berlina and later implemented a new direction of sharp-edge styling referred to as ‘La Linea’. This sharp edge ‘line’ resulted in the Giulietta from 1977, the highly successful Alfa 33 hatchback and perhaps Cressoni’s best work, the stunning Alfa 75 from 1985.

Developed under the supervision of Domenico Chirico, the Alfa 75 had to be a true sports sedan without looking too aggressive or having a racy appearance. Cressoni implemented the ‘quality first’ philosophy whilst designing the Alfa 75, a project codenamed K-1 during its development phase.
 

For the first time at Alfa Romeo, Computer Aided Design (CAD) was implemented. Extensive CAD modelling was used for the overall design and structural modelling. Great attention was paid to anti-corrosion and interior materials.

After Fiat’s take over of Alfa Romeo over in 1986, Cressoni became director at Fiat Centro Stile. He directed the design team that spawned the brilliant Cinquecento, the radical Alfa 145, the stunning Fiat Coupé, the beautiful Fiat Barchetta - which has recently ceased production - and the successful Bravo and Brava. In his later years, Cressoni oversaw projects at the IAAD in Turin, the latest project being ‘FIAT: a car for a friend’ in 2000.