The SZ was an attempt to revive Alfa Romeo's sporting heritage after its acquisition by Fiat in 1986, and was meant to recall the Giulietta Sprint Zagato from the late 1950s and early 1960s. A common misconception about the SZ is that the car was designed by Zagato, but was actually designed in-house.
Robert Opron of the Centro Stile Fiat was responsible for the initial sketches while Antonio Castellana was largely responsible for the final styling details and interior. Only Zagato's 'Z' logo of was kept on the design, with Zagato's signature double bubble roof being absent. An unusual design detail is its six headlights positioned in a trio on each side - a feature used also on later Alfa Romeo models in the 2000s. The unusual design of the car can be attributed to the use of early CAD/CAM, or computer-aided design and manufacturing by Alfa Romeo. The car's powertrain and chassis came from the
Alfa Romeo 75, with assembly being carried out by Zagato at
Terrazzano di Rho near the Alfa Romeo factory in
Arese. The thermoplastic injection-moulded composite body panels were produced by Italian company Carplast and French company Stratime Cappelo Systems. The suspension was from the Alfa Romeo 75 group A/IMSA car, File:C.1990 Alfa Romeo SZ (14379289899).jpg|Rear view of the SZ File:Alfa Romeo SZ V6.jpg|Side profile of the SZ File:Alfa SZ Zagato badge.jpg|The Zagato badging on the SZ
RZ A convertible version of the SZ called the
RZ (badged "R.Z." for Roadster Zagato) was produced from 1992 until December 1994. Although almost identical in appearance, the two cars shared no body panels save for the front wings and boot. The RZ had a revised bumper and door sills to give better ground clearance and the bonnet no longer featured the aggressive ridges. Three standard colours were available; black, yellow and red, with black and yellow being more popular choices. Yellow and red cars got a black leather interior and black cars burgundy. Although the interior layout was almost unchanged from the SZ, the RZ had a painted central console that swept up between the seats to conceal the convertible roof storage area. 350 units were planned, but production was halted after 252 units when the Zagato factory producing the cars for Alfa Romeo went into receivership. A further 32 cars were completed under the control of the receivers before production finished at 284 units. Of those, three RZs were painted silver with burgundy interior and the final RZ was painted pearlescent white. File:1993 Alfa Romeo R.Z. no. 145, front right (Greenwich 2019).jpg|Alfa Romeo RZ File:1993 Alfa Romeo R.Z. no. 145, rear right (Greenwich 2019).jpg|Rear view of the RZ File:Alfa-Romeo-RZ-side-01.jpg|Side profile of the RZ } ==Characteristics==