Alfa Romeo 4C arriving in 2013

The Alfa Romeo 4C – a compact, mid-engined RWD sports car – teased by Alfa at Geneva & Frankfurt – will arrive in 2013.

The Alfa Romeo 4C holds a lot of promise as a small mid-engined and very light sports car. And Alfa Romeo has seemed serious about their baby 8C, turning up at both Geneva 2011 and Frankfurt 2011 with concept versions of the 4C. But what about the reality?

The boys at Top Gear have been having a chat with Mauro Pierallini, head of engineering for Fiat, who’s revealed that although the 4C was originally simply a project to see what could be achieved with a baby 8C, they’ve now worked out how to make it a viable project.

The production version of the 4C will still get a carbon fibre tub designed by Dallara but it will get front and rear frames made of aluminium. That may not be quite as high tech (and a bit heavier) than carbon fibre everything, but it’s more cost effective. Also more practical will be the 4C’s skin in production guise. Instead of a very expensive carbon fibre skin, the production 4C will get a skin made of SMC, a lightweight form of GRP (basically, glass reinforced plastic).

The interior of the production 4C will be much like the concept with just the slightly bonkers concept stuff toned down a notch. The engine will be a new direct injection turbo delivering around 230bhp to the back wheels through a dual clutch box. And even with less power than the concept and more weight, the 4C should still show the Porsche Cayman a clean pair of heels with a 0-60mph around 4.5 seconds.

Alfa Romeo are starting testing the Alfa 4C in the New Year and are aiming to get it ready for showrooms by late 2013. But what about the Alfa 4C Price? The target price is around £45k which, although not bargain basement, is a decent price point for a car that offers so much promise.

We could see a production version of the Alfa Romeo 4C by Geneva 2013.