The Alfa Romeo 166 is an executive car

Executive car

Executive car is a British term that refers to a car's size and is used to describe an automobile larger than a large family car. In official use, the term is adopted by EuroNCAP, a European organisation founded to test car safety.- History :...

 that was produced by the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 automaker

Automaker

The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....

 Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of cars. Founded as A.L.F.A. on June 24, 1910, in Milan, the company has been involved in car racing since 1911, and has a reputation for building expensive sports cars...

 between 1998 and 2007.

The car was designed by Centro Stile Alfa Romeo under the control of Walter de'Silva

Walter de'Silva

Walter Maria de'Silva is an Italian car designer who is currently Head of Volkswagen Group Design, and is currently responsible for oversight on the design of all Volkswagen Group passenger car brands including Audi, Volkswagen, SEAT, Škoda as well as Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti...

, and was facelifted

Facelift (automobile)

The automotive facelift comprises changes to a car's styling during its production run — often including new sheetmetal and/or interior design) with minimal changes to its underlying mechanicals — allowing a carmaker to freshen a model without complete redesign.A facelift retains the...

 in 2003.
The 166 was the replacement for the Alfa Romeo 164

Alfa Romeo 164

The Alfa Romeo 164 is an executive car with saloon body, produced by the Italian automaker Alfa Romeo from 1987 to 1998.The 164 was re-badged as the 168 for the Hong Kong and Malaysian markets, as the number "164" had a very negative connotation , and "168" has quite the opposite The Alfa Romeo 164...

, and although the 164 had styling which was far from orthodox, the 166 with its drooping headlamps and pointed nose still raised many eyebrows.