Rudolf Hruska (1915–95) was one of the most engaging and talented ‘car men’ in the postwar Italian scene. Austrian-born, he had joined Ferdinand Porsche’s bureau in 1938 as a design engineer and helped with design and production planning for the new Volkswagen. At the end of the war, he was cut off in Italy, working with Officine Meccaniche (OM) on a Porsche-designed tractor, but through racing contacts such as Tazio Nuvolari he found his way to Cisitalia and became woven into the fabric of the Italian motor industry. By 1951 he was consulting for Alfa Romeo.
After a spell with Fiat he shouldered the task of creating a new popular Alfa Romeo as well as the factory to make it – at Pomigliano d’Arco, near Naples. In part the project was intended by the government to encourage employment in southern Italy, though Alfa Romeo also considered that the company was reaching the limit of the labour force available in Milan.
For the Alfasud, Hruska used a flat-4 ‘boxer’ engine, which he liked from his Volkswagen experience for its flat profile. To design the body he brought in Giorgetto Giugiaro (1938–) for what was to be his first mass-market success and which established Italdesign in its current premises in Moncalieri, Turin. The car itself was delightful, being marred only by poor corrosion performance in northern countries. However, the production record of the car was low, running at about 50 per cent of the target. As in the UK and elsewhere, transplanting car production to provide employment proved tricky.
Pretty, practical and a joy to drive, the ’Sud was let down only by the enthusiasm with which the shell turned to rust. The job confirmed Giorgetto Giugiaro as a major independent designer for the industry.