Alfa Romeo 4C Spider Ready to Re-Colonize America
At the start of Monday’s unveiling, Reid Bigland, head of FiatChrysler’s Alfa Romeo brand in North America, called the news “the return of one of the most historic automotive brands in the world.’’
After an almost 20-year absence Italian automaker Alfa Romeo is returning to US shores. Fiat halted exports of the Alfa Romeo to the US in 1995.
The 2015 Alfa Romeo 4C Spider made its world debut at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Monday.
The 4C Spider is a convertible version of Alfa Romeo’s 4C, and comes with a 1.75-liter turbocharged all-aluminum engine that gets 237 horsepower. It can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 4.1 seconds.
“This car has everything serious drivers need, and nothing that they don’t,’’ said Bigland.
The Spider weighs 2,500 pounds, about 22 more than the 4C. But perhaps most impressively, the 4C Spider is a convertible with a removable and stowable soft top as well as a carbon fiber hard top. It’s not clear how much the 4C Spider is going to cost. But if its cousin the 4C is any indicator, it could be between $60,000 and $85,000.
According to the Bigland, the return of Alfa Romeo to the US is part of the company’s broader $6 billion push to radically increase its global sales by 2018. Alfa Romeo sold 95,000 vehicles in 2013 and hopes to sell 400,000 by 2018, with sales in the US, Canada, and Mexico making up about 150,000 of those.
Nationwide, Alfa Romeos are currently sold at only 88 Fiat and Maserati dealerships. Bigland says he wants the network of dealerships to expand to about 200 in North America.
Supply could also be an issue for car collectors who want to add a car that has rarely been seen on US soil to their collection. FiatChrysler says only 3,000 will be built by hand in Italy. And fewer than half of those will be convertibles.
The 4C Spider will go on sale this summer. US customers will have to wait at least 18 months to get one. But after waiting almost 20 years for an Italian automotive masterpiece to return to US soil, what’s another 18 months?
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