Alfa Romeo 4C to hit the Showrooms in 2013

Dec 30 2011

The much-anticipated Alfa Romeo 4C sports car will have many scrambling for an auto loan when it goes on sale in America by 2013. UK dates are yet to be confirmed. Enthusiasts will be able to take a closer look before then, however, as the stunning-looking beauty will appear in prototype form in mid-2012, according to Fiat’s engineering chief, Mauro Pierallini.

For those of you preparing to snap one up, you will need to factor in the price tag of £38,000 (€45,000) when you go hunting for car finance.  If you do, you’ll be in for a treat.  The vehicle comes powered with Alfa’s 230bhp direct injection 1750 turbo four and is expected to hit 62mph inside 4.5 seconds.  You can almost feel the G-forces just thinking about it.

Alfa is also targeting a kerb weight of just 900kg, achieved in part by switching the 1750’s block from cast iron to aluminium.  The 4C will be constructed using light-weight composite aluminium panels, wrapped tautly around its tubular skeleton.

The car’s early development was conducted by the specialist Italian race car design firm, Dallara, but it was subsequently transferred to a small, in-house team of engineering design boffins at Alfa, headed by Pierallini himself.  A legacy of Dallara’s early input, however, is the aerodynamic design of the shell, which generates a positive downforce and enhances the high speed grip of the vehicle.

Anyone anxious about whether or not the cars will be too scarce to ever get hold of one, even with car finance in place, can draw comfort from Pierallini’s declaration that over the car’s lifetime, Alfa will build no fewer than 18,000 4Cs.  The production factory, however, has not yet been selected.

Author - Louise Hutchinson

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