Alfa Romeo 168

“唔怕生壞命, 最怕改壞名” — you don’t fear being born with bad luck; you fear ending up with a *bad name*.

That proverb captures one of the most unusual chapters in Alfa Romeo history: the Alfa Romeo 168, essentially a market-tailored rebadge of the Alfa Romeo 164 created for Chinese-speaking Asian markets where numbers—and especially the number 8—carry strong cultural weight.

In Europe and North America, the 164 found respectable success. But in Chinese-speaking markets such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, it struggled to gain traction. Alfa’s headquarters reportedly asked local distributors what was holding the car back—and the answer wasn’t the design, the engines, or the packaging. It was the name.

Read aloud in Chinese, “164” could be interpreted with a pronunciation that sounded like 「一路死」—a phrase evoking “dying along the way” or “ending badly on the road.” Not exactly the kind of omen you want on the trunk lid of a premium sedan. So for exports to those markets, Alfa changed the designation from “164” to “168”, aligning it with the much more favorable sound and symbolism of 「一路發」—suggesting prosperity and good fortune, and leveraging the cultural luck attached to the number 8.

Mechanically and functionally, the Alfa Romeo 168 remained, for all intents and purposes, a 164—offered with a similar range of petrol and diesel engines—yet the rebranding made the car feel culturally “right” for its intended audience. With its strong performance, comfortable space, and a name that finally sounded auspicious, the 168 even gained notable real-world visibility: it was reportedly chosen at one point as a vehicle for Taipei’s police special unit 「霹靂小組」 (akin to a SWAT-type team).

Today, the Alfa Romeo 168 is a rare sight outside Asia, remembered as a fascinating example of how branding, language, and local superstition can matter just as much as engineering—even for a sophisticated executive sedan. It’s a small but unforgettable reminder that sometimes, in the car world, a name can change a destiny.