Thank to the acquisition made by Fiat, Alfa gained a strong financial background, so they could introduce (together with Saab), the 164 which was an old plan at Milano.
This is the first flagship at Alfa (since the 6), which was dreamed at the Pininfarina. 1987 was the year of introduction, and the first engines ( 2.0 TS, and 3.0 V6) were well-known from the 75 America and Milano. These were followed by a 2 litre V6 turbocharged, and a 2.5 litre VM diesel unit, and of course the Q4, which get a 3 litre V6 engine and an AWD system. Under the manufacturing every engine was modified.
In 1993 the 164 get a facelift and Alfa didn’t changed the new exterior until 1998, when the 164 was replaced. The facelifted models were named as “Super”. The firts 164s arrived in the States in 1991 with the help of Chrysler and after this Alfa introduced its flagship in Australia and in the Far East. People in Asia think that the number 164 causes misfortune, so Alfa had to rename it to 168.
More than 1.650.000 164s were produced. In 1998 Alfa replaced it with the 166.
