Project 164 started life as "Project 156" (not to be confused with Alfa Romeo 156) and was completed in 1981, then still under Alfa Romeo. A year later, that project morphed into the 164 based on the Type Four platform. The new model was designed by Enrico Fumia of Pininfarina, with a wedge shape yielding it a . The design would later influence the rest of the Alfa Romeo range (starting in 1990 with the major redesign of the 33 and culminating with the 155.