Malaysia

Even in Malaysia there where Alfasuds! Mr. Malik A. Zaidi told me that every police car in Malaysia was an Alfa Romeo till they started to build the Proton in Malaysia. Alfa Romeo Italy sent CKD kits to Malaysia where they were completed. Compared to European Alfasud standarts, those cars could offer real luxury: an air condition and a lumbar support for the front seats where available. Beginnig with the series II Alfasuds, all Berlinas received the ti frontlights, the ti dashboard (including the extra gauges), the wheelarch extensions and a rear spoiler. The car on the right is Mr. Farid Jafaar's car. The 1.3 litre versions were called 1.4. Alfa Romeo Italy followed this trend with the introduction of the Alfa 33 1.4 ie which still had the 1350 cm³ engine.

Australia
Australian buyers of the Alfasud could only buy the 1490 cm³ version of the series III saloon and Ti

South Africa
 

Alfasud and Sprint were also manufactured in South-Africa. Till 1985 the South African Alfa Romeo SA factory situated in Brits, a rural town 40 km away from Johannesburg, produced a wide range of European Alfa Romeo models made in the seventies and eighties.

The mecanical parts and the drivetrain were delivered from the Italian Alfasud plant in Pomigliano d'Arco. All the rest was made in South Africa. As a consequence the mirrors, hubcaps etc. differ from the European versions.

Apart from the usual Alfasud 1.3, Alfa Romeo SA sold a special edition of the four-door Alfasud 1.3 in 1977.Only 10 top 20 units were made.  It was baptised Alfasud Rally. Two Weber 44 IDF twinchoke-downdraft carburettors raised the power output to 64 KW (about 87 bhp). Dim black colour and a lot of sportive extras were standart. The Alfasud Rally had a front air dam and a rear spoiler and the bonnet was painted in dim black. It was delivered with 185/70 tyres on 13" Turbina light alloy wheels. Small Talbot mirrors on the front wings and rubber bonnet catches a card light and special seats with 6-point harness seat belts were standart, too. It was the only South African Alfasud which was sold with the front lights of the (European) Alfasud ti series I. The Alfasud series III was also produced in Brits and was named Export. Many cars which were offered in South Africa were called Export which should inform the potential buyer that the car was made in Europe, the USA or in Japan. In addition, the (Alfasud) Export was the only car of its class made in South Africa which was good enought to be exported to other countries. In fact, the was no competitior of the Alfa Export which was named Export. The five-door saloon version of the Export got the name Super Hatch 1.5 and resembled the Alfasud 1.5 Quadrifoglio Oro (GCL). When the first Alfa 33s were launched in South Africa in 1984 , Alfa Romeo SA created a special edition of the Export. It was the Export GTA (type 30146) which was only available in a curious brown metallic colour. It had a green Scudetto, a green line running around the waist line othe car and a special rear spoiler which was developped by Autodelta. The Export had the strongest 1.5 litre Boxer-engine available at that time - the 105 bhp one of the European Alfasud 1.5 Ti QV. The interior offered green and black upholstery and a small sport leather steering wheel. Alfa Romeo SA quoted a top speed of 183 kph in fifth. Fuel consumption was stated with 6,3 l / 100 km at a constant speed of 90 kph, 8,2 l / 100 km at a constant speed of 120 kph and 11,4 l / 100 km in town. Unfortunately only very few units were sold.

An Alfasud Ti with round head lights was unknown in South Africa.

The Sprint was also built in Brits. The series III which is known as Sprint 1.5 Quadrifoglio Verde or GCL in Europe was simply called Sprint Mk3 in South Africa. There were no further important differences compared to the European versions. Alfa Romeo SA never adapted the Alfa 33's floorplan and brake system to the Sprint and continued building it with four disc brakes.

Apart from the Boxer-engined cars, Alfa Romeo SA also offered some other very interesting variations of the Transaxle range. The most impressive car was the GTV 6 3.0 which was built in 212 units. It had a three-litre V6 with three twinchoke carburettors which made the GTV6 a real thread for the BMW M 535i of that time - it was simply faster. Then, Alfa Romeo SA offered a Giulietta 1.8 series 116 "Group One". A higher compression ratio and special camshafts raised the engine's power output to 150 bhp. This Giulietta was even faster than the Ford Cortina XR6i with 3.0 V6-engine. People who believed 150 bhp to be not enough could buy the 159i Turbo (which was known as Alfetta elsewhere) or the Giulietta Turbo, both with a two litres turbo engine with 202 bhp! Alfa Romeo SA developped the turbocharged Transaxle Alfasin cooperation with Alpine Developements. Both cars used the GTV 6's gearbox and suspension. Topspeed 209 kph...

Sweden
Headlight washers are standard (by law) in Sweden since many years. So, the first Alfasuds which were sold in Sweden already had headlight washers and wipers as standard equipment. The wiper motors were installed behind the radiator grille. In addition the Swedish versions did not have the flexible washer liquid bag which was installed in the service compartment under the bonnet of the non-Swedish versions. Alfa Romeo had designed a larger, solid water container for the Swedish market which was installed on the right inner front wing. It fed the windscreen washer jets and the headlight washer jets. Later on, this solution became standard on all Alfa 33 (series 905) sold in and outside Sweden. In contrast to the early Alfa 33s where there were two headlight washer solutions (washer and wiper at the 1.5 QO and the 4x4 versions and a high pressure jet without wiper at the 1.5 QV), Alfa Romeo did not develop a special solution for the ti-versions of the Alfasud. So, all Alfasud tis which were sold in sweden had the rectangular front lights of the saloon versions.

Does anybody have more photos? Maybe one of the Export GTA? Please mail to alfasud@gmx.de!

Last Update: April, 25th 2004     Created: March, 12th 2001

© Layout and text by Tim Rauen. Photos by Alfa Romeo SA and Farid Jafaar.