The acronym ‘4C’ in automotive marketing’s latest trip down memory lane comes from long faded racing and also the sports car heritage of the Alfa Romeo brand.
The new Alfa Romeo 4C will debut at the Geneva a Motor Show next month, the Italian sports car maker owned by Fiat said this morning. The two-seat, mid-engine designed sports car will be built at the Maserati plant in Modena, which is also the home of Fiat owned Ferrari and a university founded in the12th century AD. The 4C will go on sale in 2013, marking the return of the Italian brand to the United States.
The tiny 4C – less than 4 meters in length – will be powered by a new 4 cylinder turbocharged gasoline engine with a twin clutch automatic transmission. The super car has a chassis made entirely of carbon fiber, and it bears a resemblance to the original Dino Ferrari in stance, with a more angular and edgier exterior look in the place of the Dino’s famously sensuous curves.
The 4C is close to the concept shown at the Geneva Show in 2011. The acronym ‘4C,’ in automotive marketing’s latest trip down memory lane, comes from long faded racing and also sports car heritage of the Alfa Romeo brand.
The expensive carbon fiber in the 4C interior is left in view to “enhance the sense of uniqueness, of technology and light weight.” Just bring money…
Indeed, 8C and 6C were used during the fascist dominated 1930s and 1940s on both racing and road cars – equipped with eight- or six-cylinder engines. This time around the traffic circle, Alfa’s goal is a power/weight ratio of an authentic supercar, less than 4 kg/horsepower, helped in part by limiting the weight.
The Alfa Romeo 4C uses some expensive technologies and materials derived in part from the 8C Competizione – including the aforementioned carbon fiber, aluminum, rear-wheel drive, and an all-aluminum direct injection force-fed engine. (Read AutoInformed on Mazda and Fiat Sign Agreement for New Alfa Romeo Roadster)
