Production of the new halo car, to be called the 4C GTA, will begin by 2012 in one of parent company Fiat’s Italian factories. The automaker plans to build 20,000 to 25,000 units of the coupe over the following five years, according to people familiar with the matter. The same sources suggest the car could also be heading to America, though the final decision has not been made yet.
Fiat spokesmen have confirmed that development is underway, yet the Geneva debut is uncertain, due to “delays in the concept model construction”.
Delays are nothing new in the auto industry, and we bet that Alfa enthusiasts are willing to wait for the first affordable rear-wheel drive since the Duetto Spider was discontinued in 1994. While the 8C Competizione’s 4.7-liter V8 sends its power to the back axle, the car built between 2007 and 2008 came with price tag of over €200,000 (US $276,160), too much for the average buyer.
Sources stated the 4C will be styled by Alfa’s own design center in Turin and that the “rakish, very compact and extremely low two-seat coupe” will be underpinned by a modified chassis from the KTM X-Bow, originally engineered by Italy’s Dallara Automobili for the Austrian motorcycle maker. Power will come from the Giulietta’s 1.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, expected to deliver over 250HP.
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