RE: Alfa Romeo 4C spied testing

[kambites]

ZesPak said:

Hmm, as far as I remember, it's also a very labour-intense process to manufacture carbon parts, hard to automise as well.

Have a look at Lexus' huge weaving machine if you want to see how it's automated.

[kambites]

iSore said:

As for Elise rival - who buys Elises? About 40 folk a year?

With the stats and likely price being bandied around, I can't see Alfa aiming to sell more than that in the UK? This will, in many ways, be a more specialist car than the Elise.

[otolith]

What planet are people on if they think this should or could be sub-30k? 30k gets you a poverty spec Z4 20i with 184bhp. Oh, but that's German, isn't it.

[V6Alfisti]

kambites said:

With the stats and likely price being bandied around, I can't see Alfa aiming to sell more than that in the UK?

I would be surprised as the 8C costing over 100k sold it's allocation quickly,same for the Spider version.

There is a lot of love from collectors/enthusiasts for Alfa's with the right style, engines and intent.

Plus I expect they are looking to take sales away (maybe not in huge numbers) from it's competitors.

[kambites]

V6Alfisti said:

kambites said:

With the stats and likely price being bandied around, I can't see Alfa aiming to sell more than that in the UK?

I would be surprised as the 8C costing over 100k sold it's allocation quickly,same for the Spider version.

There is a lot of love from collectors/enthusiasts for Alfa's with the right style, engines and intent.

Plus I expect they are looking to take sales away (maybe not in huge numbers) from it's competitors.

I didn't think the 8C sold anything like 40 cars in the UK?!?

The main reason I say they wont be aiming to sell more is that, as far as I know, Fiat group do not have the capacity to automate carbon fibre production (I might be wrong?) so every tub will have to be hand-laid. If they were going for serious mass production, I'd imagine they wouldn't be using carbon fibre.

[DMN]

I don't care what it looks like, what it costs, because if its rear-wheel drive I'll sell my soul for one.

[V6Alfisti]

kambites said:

I didn't think the 8C sold anything like 40 cars in the UK?!?

As far as I know they did, my specialist had his name down for one but didn't make the shortlist

Just doing a search, Autocar comes up with the following "This is just one reason why the entire production run (40 for the UK) is sold out at the premium starting price of £112,000. But the good news is Alfa hasn’t started selling Spiders yet. If you’ve £120k to spare, there’s still hope."

[kambites]

Ah OK. How many 8Cs did they sell in total then?

The 8C wasn't CF, was it?

ETA: HowManyLeft shows 26 coupes and 15 spiders currently registered in the UK; more than I'd thought.

[V6Alfisti]

DMN said:

I don't care what it looks like, what it costs, because if its rear-wheel drive I'll sell my soul for one.

This is why it will sell and for those that can't afford it from new, why it will probably hold it's value reasonably well.

[V6Alfisti]

kambites said:

Ah OK. How many 8Cs did they sell in total then?

The 8C wasn't CF, was it?

ETA: HowManyLeft shows 26 coupes and 15 spiders currently registered in the UK; more than I'd thought. smile

I always understood it as, 500 of the 8C Coupe and the same again for the spider. So 1K worldwide.

A lot were bought by investors and sold for a premium when new. There are few cars that I personally desire more from the last 5-10 years.

The shell was carbon fibre, but the chassis was steel.

Also remember Maserati are making a baby Maserati that is quite Alfa 4C like.

The Alfa 8C actually held alot of future tech at the time, the below is from somebody on the "inside" called MacGeek over at Alfaowner

"So they took the Quattroporte platform, shortened it, and started revising and updating the structure. At almost the same time, but a little bit later, the GranTurismo project started as well. Some of the updates designed for the 8C that could be used on the GranTurismo were carried over. Just as an example, look at the front structure of the vehicle: the Quattroporte has the older version, while the 8C and the GranTurismo share the updated version.

And as you know, the same thing happened with the engine.

When somebody tells me that the 8C is "just a rebodied Maserati", I always reply that the GranTurismo is just a rebodied 8C which is not really correct as well, since the 8C has a peculiar half-steel and half-carbon structure: most of the carbon is not structural, but the single CF piece comprising the entire windscreen frame, roof, rear pillars and rear quarter panes is structural: there are no steel reinforcements in it.

Joking aside, they could be considered siblings. They have a common ancestor on which they were based on, although with significant updates, and were developed in parallel. "

Edited by V6Alfisti on Wednesday 16th January 15:52

[DeltaEvo2]

WANT!

[kambites]

I have no real interest in ever driving one, but I'm fascinated to know how they're actually going to manufacture this thing now.

[SprintSpeciale]

I really hope this lives up to expectations and is a big hit for Alfa.

They need to avoid the mistake they made with the 8C Spider of pricing it at a silly level. They definitely struggled to shift the UK allocation of Spiders. I spoke to them at the 2010 Fos and they still had a fair number unsold. I went as far as getting the contract sent to me, but it was £173k (before options), and there were already cars with delivery miles available for a lot less than that. Fiat UK(who were handling the sales, not Alfa) even told me they would give me the Giulietta Cloverleaf I had on order (for Mrs SS) for nothing if I ordered a Spider (although they wouldn't just discount the purchase price). That still didn't bridge the gap to £150k delivery miles car with all the options (which took the price of a new one to £190k).

If you check the classifieds now, there are (very low mileage) 8C Spiders in the £130k range.

Edited by SprintSpeciale on Wednesday 16th January 16:02

[YsterSwart]

Far as I know the cf and SMC will be outsourced... Not confirmed to me tho..

Only 1000 8C's sold world wide. 500 coupes and500 spiders

The 8C was meant to be the ''halo' car for AR hence the limited numbers... And it was built by Maserati and based on a Maserati and most of the 8C was cf

The 4C is an Alfa that will be based on Alfa stuff that will be built by Maserati.. Reason being they want to use the 4C for a car they want to develop... So Maserati wants the platform for themselves at a later stage

Edited by YsterSwart on Wednesday 16th January 15:57

[V6Alfisti]

YsterSwart said:

V6alfisti your name looks familiar... You on alfaowner?

I am, I switch between here and AO

[DJRC]

Good grief. Even by the usual standards of journalism on here that was an astoundingly shockingly vague and/or inaccurate article.

Penned by a moron.

[Fittster]

will_ said:

I really hope this is a sub £30k affordable sportscar.

I fear it will be a £50k disappointment.

30K low production CF car? Fat chance.

[TaylotS2K]

Looks very 'Lotus' imo. Some similarities with an Evora and Elise there.

[YsterSwart]

V6Alfisti said:

I am, I switch between here and AO

I'm on AO... Perreby there. Seems you have been reading my posts there?

[anomaly]

It's pleasing that Alfa are now testing their cars in cold weather. I had a 145 that was undriveable in sub-zero weather as the handbrake would freeze in the on position.