Introducing the Alfa Romeo 4C

UK magazine Autocar is reporting further delays to both the introduction of the 4c and reintroduction of Alfa Romeo to the USA. They are claiming sources confirming Alfa Romeo’s US relaunch will be at the Detroit motor show in 2014 also debuting the production 4C. This is a significant delay to the earlier target of “early” 2013.

USA Today have been discussing the new Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler offerings with Sergio Marchionne giving more details away on Alfa Romeo’s future direction.
He is reported as saying "There will be plants making Alfas in the United States and in Europe, I need to export to Europe from the U.S. The volumes I (can) get here are how I reintroduce Alfa to Europe.....".

The long and special relationship between Alfa Romeo and  Zagato took a strange twist in 2011 with the factory officially sanctioning the manufacture of the TZ3. Why was this so different ? Alfa Romeo have been allowing variants on production cars since the 1930’s – well it is actually “very” different from any other Alfa.

It sees the re-body of Dodge Viper (in ACR-X specification no less) with an 8.4ltr v10 pushing  out 640bhp and 585 lbft. of torque. As with all the mechanicals the front engine rear-drive layout,  a long 99” wheelbase remain unchanged .

Car Dealer magazine are reporting that Alfa Romeo’s 2011 registration figures were the highest since 2002 with 11,563 cars registered. This sees their market share rise by 30.8 per cent.
Alfa Romeo attributed the success down to the latest product line-up and improving dealer network  in the top 10 for the J.D. Power UK customer satisfaction survey. Alfa went on to add the success of their highly competitive finance/incentive offers as being another major factor boosting the overall performance.

USA Today have been revealing details of what the Dodge designers have done to the once "lovely" Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

The design sees the Giulietta washed down with some bland American touches but brings small capacity engines high technology engines to the US market.

UK based Top Gear magazine are reporting the Alfa Romeo 4C is expected early 2013.

The information came out with their interview with Mauro Pierallin European head of engineering who has given the project a discrete team outside the main engineering structure headed by him personally. They report advanced prototypes will be testing mid-2012 with a year’s hard testing before going on sale at “under £45,000”.

US motoring Magazine Motortrend have published an interview with Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne about the new found American-focused group.

Alfa Romeo got its first brand outing in China at the Guangzhou Auto Show. They showed the MiTo, Giulietta and the 4C “for 2012” presumably later in the year as the Guangzhou/Fiat joint venture is “two years away”. Alternatively they could be imported from Europe and therefore very expensive, thus limiting demand.

Locals report that traditionally Chinese car buyers pay premiums on imports car, if it is a premium car. But will a mainstream European hatchback be premium enough for the Chinese?

The 5yr, 5 model plan clearly stated a replacement for the (Brera) Spider with an emphasis on weight reduction, performance and dynamics.

Several on-line motoring sites were spouting  interest in this model and speculation became around whether it would be an all new model or based on the 4c.

Well the artists at Teamspeed.com created a yellow their vision of what Alfa Romeo should offer. Seemingly designed with a Ferrari 575 Superamerica / Renault Wind rotating roof panel in mind

Much is being made of Alfa Romeo’s return to the USA with the UK’s Autoexpress magazine reporting a target of 85,000 cars from the leaked report – ambitious for a marque absent for 18yrs. To achieve this they are talking about a 5 model line up including the 4c but also a large saloon (based on the Chrysler 300c platform) and a SUV perhaps more to the US tastes.