Rudolf Hruska

Rudolf Hruska (born July 2, 1915 in Vienna , † December 4, 1995 in Turin ) was an Austrian automobile designer who worked primarily for the Alfa Romeo company .

Life

After studying at the Vienna Engineering School, Hruska first worked for Ferdinand Porsche on the development of the KdF car . After the Second World War he played a key role in the development of the Cisitalia racing cars. In 1951 he moved to Alfa Romeo. Hruska initially had the task of improving productivity in the production of the Alfa Romeo 1900 at the Portello plant . At the time, this was Alfa Romeo's first large-scale production of vehicles. In 1954 he was appointed technical director. In 1959 he was entrusted with the management of the Portello plant. Due to dissatisfaction with personnel changes, he then switched to Simca and later to Fiat . The Simca 1000 and Fiat 124 / Fiat 128 models were co-designed by him.

In 1967 he received an offer from Alfa Romeo to build the new Alfasud . He should both completely redesign the vehicle and build and commission a completely new plant in Pomigliano d'Arco near Naples. After successfully completing this major project, he was given responsibility for design, development, research and construction at the headquarters in Arese in 1974 . In 1980, Hruska left at the age of 65. As a consultant, he remained connected to the automotive industry for several years.