Alfa Romeo considered upgrading the Alfetta sedan in 1979 since its German competitors started to get stronger and stronger, and the French cars that became better.
The Italian brand was now in good shape, and it could afford to produce very good fast nimble family sedans, and the Alfetta was a fine example of it. For the record: it was the only car on the market, from its segment, which featured only over 100 hp gasoline engines. In the late ’70s, that was something important. Moreover, the design stepped into a new era.

While most carmakers were still stuck with the round headlights design, Alfa Romeo dared more and installed horizontal rectangular units. To emphasize the new headlamp unit’s advantage, the carmaker offered wipers for them as an option. Its overall design wasn’t that much changed, but the new front fascia with rubber strips along the chromed bumper that integrated the turn signals was important. Alfa Romeo kept the vents from the C-pillar for the new facelifted version since most people considered them cool.

The interior was quite roomy for a car of its size, but since the transmission tunnel was big, it was suitable only for four people. Its dashboard was completely changed and featured a new instrument cluster, with a panel that showed barrel-type gauges for coolant temperature, oil pressure, and fuel level. The tachometer and the speedometer kept their position but with a new design.

Under the hood, Alfa Romeo tried to offer a better fuel-efficiency vehicle and proposed a 2.0-liter turbo-diesel engine, which was not that successful. That version filled around five percent of the total Alfetta lineup sales, including the 1973-1979 generation.