Alfa Romeo 8C Competitzione
Exactly a month after we told you
84 copies of the
Alfa Romeo 8C Competitzione would be coming to US shores, reader
KingRoyale spotted this one parked outside the Rye, NY train station. The lusty Italian coupe apparently wore a license plate reading "001 USA" leading us to wonder if this is in fact the first Alfa Romeo sold in the US since 1995. The Alfa certainly stands out like a sore thumb against the fall backdrop, doing its job of being obnoxiously beautiful.
UPDATE: Word has it this Alfa belongs to James Glickenhaus, and is his current commuter to and from the train station.
alfa romeo 8c competizione
Alfa Romeo made it
official a year ago when they announced plans to return to the US auto market after a 13-year cooling-off period. But now it's actually here, as the Italian automaker begins to rekindle its romance with the US auto market later this month, when they import 84 copies of its exclusive
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione. The lusty — and already spoken-for — sports cars will be made available through the existing Maserati dealer network, with another run of 8C Competizione Spyders and 8C Competizione GTAs planned as well. As we've already told you — this impromptu return may act as the lead for additional models to hit US shores in the late-2009/early-2010 time frame (right about when the DOW will hit 200 and gas will be hovering around $9 a gallon). So that'll work well.
[
MotorAuthority]
alfa romeo 8c gta
Rumor has it that
Alfa Romeo will be building a special
8C supercar dubbed the GTA to celebrate the company's 100th anniversary, and one reports suggests that this lightly taped mule seen near the Nurburgring is that car. What makes this red 8C different from any other 8C? The exhaust note has been described as "darker," which would aptly describe the
Ferrari California's 4.3-liter direct-injection V8 that reportedly powers the rumored 8C GTA. Whether or not the GTA actually sees the light of day, we'd love to see additional speculation just for an excuse to post more 8C pictures.
[
Autogespot]
over the back fence
In a recent interview, Alfa Romeo's global marketing director, Sergio Cravero, expressed his desire to have an Alfa Romeo model based on the new 2009 Ferrari California.
"It would be great if Ferrari let us do it... but they are very hard to convince." The potential model would be a replacement for Alfa's current dragon-bait halo cars, the 8C Competizione and 8C Spider. Of course, the 8C hasn't been a directly profitable model for Alfa, so we're thinking that they're hoping to actually make some money by mooching more from Ferrari for the next car. [
autocar]
new cars
This is what's known in the industry as the Halo effect. Believe it or not,
Alfa Romeo aren't making the
8C Competizione because they lay awake at night dreaming about the color red combined with 450bhp V8s, but because their accountants spend all day figuring out what building such a vehicle will have on the sales of bread and butter models like the
Mi.To hatch. We're pleasantly surprised to see so many design similarities between the Alfa we can afford and the one we can't, well, from the front and rear at least. Mi.To sales start in Europe this July with engines ranging from 95-155bhp. The 8C should be making it stateside later this year, heralding a return to the country for the brand, lets hope the Mi.To will follow. [via
Autoblog.it]
industry news
We already knew Fiat's Alfa Romeo was bringing the
Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione to the US and using the Maserati distribution network to do it. We'd also heard one option Fiat was discussing was creation of a new plant in Mexico to supply North America with volume models like the 159 sedan and upcoming Mi.To and 149 hatchbacks. But what we didn't know, if the coy allusions made in an article appearing in today's
Financial Times are to be believed, is that Fiat CEO Sergio "March Madness" Marchionne may be looking at snatching up excess capacity at US automakers.
More »
geneva motor show
It's not often that I quickly look past blonde and presumably Italian (or maybe Swiss) "booth professionals," but the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider has that affect on a man. Yes, friends, the
highly anticipated Geneva debut of the Spider is finally here. This car has the same 450 HP 4.7-liter V8 as its brother, the
8C Competizione, which
earned its own Very Special Jalopnik Day and still makes Ray twitch nervously. If you haven't already noticed, the Spider features a fully automatic electro-hydraulic convertible top that has been engineered with the same aerodynamic and performance precision as the rest of the ride. Much to the dismay of anyone with eyes and a pulse, only 500 of these will be manufactured. Pretty much ensures that you
won't be getting one (Fiat scion, exec and world-class playboy/recovering 12-stepper
Lapo Elkann, on the other hand...) It matters not. The live pictures of this Chariot of the Gods are here to be drooled over.
More »
new cars
Alfa Romeo's run out of ideas for naming its next model - temporarily dubbed "Junior" - and wants you to help. The compact coupe will go on sale during the second quarter of 2008 and will feature the company's new 1.4-liter T-Jet engines, which make up to 200bhp. The contest is only open to residents of Europe and Japan, which either means the car won't go on sale stateside, or that Alfa doesn't want it named Cletus.
Alfa Naming
new cars
Good news for the SPF-zero set. That concept version the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione sans top, shown at the Pebble Beach Concourse back in 2005, will debut in production for in 2009. That from
Automotive News, which reported on a Wall Street preso in New York by Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne. The coupe, which went on sale in Europe earlier this month, will hit US shores in mid-2008. That, to coincide with Alfa's return to the states — where it's been absent since 1995. The spider convertible will meet the coupe in production volume — that is, 500 units. That's far too low to satisfy all the world's Alfisi. Expect unrest. [Automotive News via
Motor Authority]
Jalopnik
