Designers (Europe) has granted the prestigious European Automotive Design Award 2006 to the new Alfa Romeo Brera. This is the second time that the Italian carmaker has received this award, which was created 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...”
 

To emphasise its winning of this important award, the Alfa Romeo Brera was put on display during the bi-annual European Motor Show, held in Brussels, on Designers (Europe)’s stand. The show ran from January 12th until yesterday evening when the show finally closed its doors to the public.

This is in fact the second prestigious design award to be scooped by the Alfa Brera this month, as last week, it beat the Peugeot 407 Coupé, Chrysler 3000 C Touring and Lexus IS 250 on a final shortlist to win the "Most Beautiful Car in the World" award, which was presented during a glittering ceremony at the 21st annual International Automobile Festival held in the Grand Palais in Paris, a site with legendary significance in France’s cultural heritage and also in the history of the automobile. These latest two achievemets build on a plethora of awards that were handed to Giorgetto Giugiaro's Alfa Brera concept car in 2002, a stunning design that remained virtually unchanged right into final production.