You would think that ever since Fiat and Alfa Romeo was bought by Chrysler, that the return of Alfa Romeo to the U.S. market was critical to both automakers’ future success? This is exactly what Fiat-Chrysler CEO, Sergio Marchionne, thinks as well and it looks like this proposed return to the U.S. might have finally got the go-ahead with the arrival of the 4C sports car. Alfa Romeo will belatedly relaunch in North America in the second half of 2013 with its new Alfa Romeo 4C as the headline act.
“I think the battleground for us is U.S. based. We need to take on the German imports in that market as a European brand of equal, if not superior, value. The good thing is that the planned renaissances were never really executed so we never embarrassed ourselves and came home with the tail between our legs,” Marchionne said at the Geneva Motor Show last week.
“There are two things that have fundamentally changed (recently). One is that we now have a very solid alliance with Chrysler. Chrysler has a distribution network which we’ve never had before, but more importantly, the sharing of architectures has made it economically viable for Alfa. It could never have done it economically in the absence of Chrysler, just impossible,” Marchionne said.
Marchionne says the 4C is the perfect car to relaunch Alfa Romeo in North America. As we’ve reported countless times previously, the 4C sits on its own distinctive carbon fibre architecture and makes do with the fairly modest engine from the Alfa Giulietta QV hatchback.
Power and torque figures of the 4C Launch edition, which Alfa Romeo have been showing at the Geneva International Motor Show, have been confirmed at 176 kW and 350 Nm. Thanks to extensive use of carbon fibre, the weight has been kept down to 895 kg, with the carbon tub weighing just 65 kg.
Alfa claims the car will compete with the Porsche Cayman thanks to its 0 – 100 km/h sprint time of 4.5 second and a top speed in excess of 250 km/h. It also has a dual-clutch DCT transmission and a limited-slip differential.
The Launch Edition receives a number of extra carbon fibre details, including the headlights, rear spoiler, door mirrors and exclusive Bianco Carrera paintwork. Prices start at £52 000 (upwards of R730 000) for the 4C Launch Edition. Production will kick off with 1 000 units of the ‘Launch Edition’ series. 500 units will apparently be sent to America, 400 to Europe, Middle East and Africa.
