The real BAT Mobiles

The Alfa Romeo BATs are Italian concept cars. The cars originated from a joint collaboration project between Alfa Romeo and the Italian design house Bertone that began in 1953. Three cars were built:

All three cars were designed by Franco Scaglione.

Alfa Romeo contacted Giuseppe “Nuccio” Bertone of the Bertone design house and commissioned three concept vehicles to research the effects of drag on a vehicle. The idea was to create vehicles with the lowest possible drag coefficient. The cars were named BAT for “Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica.” All the cars featured large rear bumpers and curved fins. They were built upon the Alfa Romeo 1900 chassis. Each of the three cars was presented at the Turin Auto Show, in 1953, 1954 and 1955 respectively.

The lowest of the three cars’ drag coefficient was 0.19, an achievement even by today’s standards. For each of the cars, Alfa Romeo provided a five-speed gearbox and a powerful four-cylinder engine that produced more than 90 horsepower (67 kW), good…