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Concept Car of the Week: Alfa Romeo BAT 7

This week sees the Concept of the Week title go to Alfa Romeo and Bertone for their collaboration on the Alfa Romeo BAT 7, the second addition to the BAT series that began in 1953 and finished in 1955. First seen at the 1954 Turin motor show, this wildly futuristic ‘dream' car came about after Alfa Romeo contacted Giuseppe "Nuccio" Bertone of the Bertone carrozeria to commission three concepts with the lowest possible drag coefficient. The cars were named BAT for "Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica." Built upon the Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis, the BAT cars featured large rear bumpers and curved fins, and the concepts achieved a drag coefficient of just 0.19 - an impressive result.

Toyota FT-CH Concept – a new ‘Small & Sporty’ Toyota Prius

The Toyota FT-CH Concept - a stumpy Prius Toyota held a 25 minute press conference this morning at the Detroit Motor Show to tell the assembled throng of journos that it’s going to make lots of Hybrids. Once everyone picked themselves up off the floor after the shock of that revelation, Toyota went on to say that the Toyota FT-CH Concept they were unveiling was a look at the future of Toyota’s hybrid cars and would be part of an extended family of Prius models. Will we ever recover from such shocking revelations?

Trouble at Bertone

It was hoped that Bertone would be exhibiting its latest concept, the B.A.T.11, in Geneva this year, a design inspired by the B.A.T.5., B.A.T.7 and B.A.T.9 concepts developed between 1953 and 1955. The car is based on the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. But after receiving a release from Stile Bertone announcing the prototype on February 13, the company's communications department sent through another email stating that it would not, in fact, be attending the show this year.