As the Brera begins arriving in the dealership across mainland Europe, Alfa Romeo has just released on the internet an extended version of the futuristic 'Machine Warriors' viral, designed to build interest in the new sportscar. Before Christmas the 'Machine Warriors' website offered a short 'teaser' clip, but now a much-longer version, featuring the Alfa Brera in more active detail has emerged. Using state-of-the-art computer graphics the new Alfa Brera is thrust into a series of fast-moving scenes that contain fighting robots, rapid action and 'space age' surroundings.

It's been a hectic month for the Giorgetto Giugiaro designed Alfa Brera, one of the most anticipated new sportscars of the last year. First seen in production form at the Geneva Salon last March, it is now on sale in Italy, and spreading its was across Europe through the late winter and early spring. Within the last two weeks it has scooped up two major design awards.

Firstly, Designers (Europe) granted the prestigious European Automotive Design Award 2006 to the Alfa Brera. This is in fact the second time that the Italian carmaker has received this award, which was created back in 1995, as in 1998 Alfa Romeo was handed it for the Alfa 156 sedan. The new Alfa Brera coupé came out on top of the survey that Designers (Europe) held in Europe last year, with votes collected from an informed mix of voters, including automotive journalists, professional automotive designers and design students. Designers (Europe) is a private and independent organization located in Belgium since 1989. It promotes automotive design throughout Europe and organizes design events, including the European Automotive design Competition, aimed at discovering new design talents. Designers (Europe) is represented in more than 30 countries.

The new Alfa Romeo Brera came out ahead of the Jaguar XK and the Lexus IS in the voting. "This award confirms that Alfa Romeo has chosen the right design direction for its new coupe while co-operating with the famous design house of Turin Ital Design and Giorgietto Giugiaro," said Designers (Europe). From the jurors who took part in the voting process, Designers (Europe) selected the comment made by Mr. Patrick Le Quément, Senior Vice-President Corporate Design at Renault. His opinion emphasises perfectly the state of mind behind the new Brera. Mr. Le Quément says: “The Alfa Romeo Brera shows a very sporty design, with a rear end reminding us the excellent design of the Porsche 928 - thanks again Mr. Anatole Lapine - while the front end is absolutely gorgeous. Well done Mr. Giugiaro and well done Alfa Romeo...”
 

Secondly this month the Alfa Brera picked up the prestigious "Most Beautiful Car in the World" award during a glittering ceremony at the 21st annual International Automobile Festival held in the Grand Palais in Paris last week, a site with legendary significance in France’s cultural heritage and also in the history of the automobile. The Alfa Brera fended off competition from the other three contenders on the final shortlist: the Peugeot 407 Coupé, Chrysler 300 C Touring and Lexus IS 250, to pick up the prestigious award for aesthetic beauty, to add to the long list of major design awards the Brera has won since being first presented as a concept in 2002. These numerous important international award include: the ‘Best of Show’, awarded by the magazine Autoweek at the Geneva Motor Show, ‘Best of Show’ in the Prototype category at the Villa d’Este Concours d’Elégance, two prizes for its category at the Bibendum Challenge 2002, one as ‘one of the most elegant in the world’; and also the title of ‘the most fascinating car’ during the Super Car Rally 2002, which runs from Paris to Monte Carlo. The "Most Beautiful Car in the World" award was handed out during a glamorous ceremony at the Grand Palais that brought together leading figures from the arenas of big business, sport and entertainment.

Top Gear are always the toughest of motoring critics, and after maverick presenter Jeremy Clarkson was moved to say that the Brera was "Cameron Diaz on wheels" they sent reporter Paul Horrell to Balocco to test drive the new Alfa Romeo Brera, and he came away overwhelmed by almost every aspect of the exciting new Italian sportscar. "Saunter up close and enjoy the perfectly integrated detailing. From 10 paces, admire the strong surfaces. And when it's just 'Tangoed' you on the motorway, check out the wide track, the tough stance, the serious way it suckers down onto the road," said Horrell.

"Hey, who cares that you can't see a bit of it from the driving seat when you're trying to reverse? It's for car styling exactly like this that God saw fit to give us parking sensors. Sliding our point of focus forwards, the rest of the car is pretty darned gorgeous too," Horrell continued, adding: "Behold those clean but rather rakish rear pillars, the narrow-eyed glazing, the perfectly integrated side creases, the neat triangular blades for door handles and side indicators, the six-lamp nose, the proud grille."