Alfa 4c pre-orders....speculating?

[johnnyBv8]

Hi,

I've just had my Alfa dealer on the phone 'offering' the opportunity to put a deposit down on the new Alfa 4c. For those that haven't seen it, it looks lovely.....mid-engined, 850kg, with carbon chassis.

Apparently there are only 115 per year coming to the UK (1500 worldwide). It would be a case of paying a (refundable) deposit of £1000, and then a further part payment (non-refundable) once spec'd. Final price approx £38k.

My problem is that I don't know what car I want next week, never mind in two years time! I know that people speculate on limited production cars and just wondered if and how this would work if I changed my mind over the next two years?

Edited by johnnyBv8 on Saturday 12th March 13:49

[johnnyBv8]

[/quote]

[ZOLLAR]

johnnyBv8 said:

Wow, That is gorgeous!.

[Fittster]

Is it normal for the dealer to tout cars to speculators? If there was going to be a strong demand to generate a premium over list wouldn't speculators be calling the dealers?

Edited by Fittster on Saturday 12th March 15:56

[johnnyBv8]

Fittster said:

Is it normal for the dealer to tout cars to speculators? If there was going to be a strong demand to generate a premium over list couldn't speculators be calling the dealers?

He phoned me because I'd been in before and spoken to him, not phoning me as a speculator! He said that he's had lots of speculators on the phone though. I'm not a speculator, to be clear (erm, though I suppose I might be!). Reading round on the internet it seems that not all dealers are accepting deposits.

[justin220]

I think they look great! Certainly going to give Lotus something to think about.

[k-ink]

I hate speculators. Just buy it if you want it. Or don't bother.

[LuS1fer]

Is that matt red or is it not finished?

[johnnyBv8]

k-ink said:

I hate speculators. Just buy it if you want it. Or don't bother.

Did you even bother to read my post, or did you just read the title? I'm not a speculator, I was just wondering how it would work - 2 years is a long time to wait.

Your hatred is slightly bizarre nonetheless - not sure it's any different to people buying a car to restore/improve, or to buying a house....investments, that's all.

Edited by johnnyBv8 on Saturday 12th March 17:55

[johnnyBv8]

LuS1fer said:

Is that matt red or is it not finished?

Carbon finish!

[kambites]

johnnyBv8 said:

Carbon finish!

What do you mean "Carbon finish"? Since when has any common form of Carbon been red?

[vescaegg]

This is going to be a proper production model rather than a special edition with limited numbers (like the 8c) isn't it?

Edit - Knew I heard it somewhere.

http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/264946/geneva_20...

Edited by vescaegg on Saturday 12th March 18:05

[johnnyBv8]

kambites said:

What do you mean "Carbon finish"? Since when has any common form of Carbon been red?

I said carbon finish, not carbon colour! It's apparently got what they call a 'soft red' colour to it. No idea whether this would make it to production though...there's very little info to go on to be honest.

"The chassis supports a body crafted completely from carbon fibre, inside which there is space for the driver and passenger, while the rear frame structure and the crash boxes make extensive use of aluminium. The result is a weight/power ration of less than 4 kg/HP".

[johnnyBv8]

vescaegg said:

This is going to be a proper production model rather than a special edition with limited numbers (like the 8c) isn't it?

Edit - Knew I heard it somewhere.

http://www.evo.co.uk/news/evonews/264946/geneva_20...

Edited by vescaegg on Saturday 12th March 18:05

Yeah, I'd seen that, but apparently it's 1500 a year worldwide, and 115 UK. WHo knows though, could be another Clio Williams trick! Looks stunning though....

[vescaegg]

johnnyBv8 said:

Yeah, I'd seen that, but apparently it's 1500 a year worldwide, and 115 UK. WHo knows though, could be another Clio Williams trick! Looks stunning though....

Very stunning

[TheInternet]

johnnyBv8 said:

LuS1fer said:

Is that matt red or is it not finished?

Carbon finish!

Carbon finish? What a lot of marketing balderdash, it's been called primer for as long as I can remember. You can get it in white too, which they will presumably term Satin Carbonara Finish.

[R3v 1]

Apparently its just Matt Red according to Auto Express.

[northandy]

Very interesting, I do like the look of that.

[cml]

Limited production carbon fibre rocket for £38,000.

Mmmmm.

I may be going out on a limb here, but I suspect it will somehow cost more than that when it arrives. Plus it might be a bit heavier.

Not keen on the matt finish and would really want a normal manual box to play with.

Does look jolly nice though...

[DJC]

He is lying to you.
Alfa have made *no* set decisions with the car, that includes chassic, engine, body and price.
I have that from face to face discussion with chaps a damn sight higher up the FIAT-Alfa-Maserati-Ferrari chain than a UK dealer.

There is also no official or even unofficial list, if you try Alfa will refuse to take your name/details for anything in any way connected to the 4C. What they will do - and only then if you make a considerable and persistent fuss - is acknowledge that if you were on the original 8C list you will "probably" be contact first with regards to a 4C delivery. Even then they stress and stress again that they have no fixed decisions about the car yet, except that the first cars are due to be delivered to customers last month of 2012.

If an Alfa dealer is declaring different to you, he is punting at best and your place on that list will be on that dealership's allocation only, but he is hoping the more "orders" he gets, the higher allocation he can try and wangle out of UK HQ.