Alfa Romeo is about to drop a bombshell of a car on the automotive world. The new Alfa Romeo 4C has combined all the legendary attributes of Alfa Romeo with stunning technical innovations. The result is a supreme example of Italian automotive design and is on its way to becoming an instant classic. The mostly handmade Alfa Romeo 4C is as exotic as they come yet is priced in a range that an enthusiast doesn't have to sell all their belongings to afford. In Europe, the 4C's price is expected to be around 53,000 Euros (approximately $73,000) or 2,100 Euros ($2,800) less than a Porsche Cayman S. Pricing for the US has yet to be announced, but estimates range all over the place from $55,000 to $86,000. Due to the highly labor intensive use of carbon fiber materials, annual production is limited to 3,500 cars, and initial talk back in February was that 1,000 cars will be coming to North America. Expect the US version of the Alfa 4C to weigh about 220 lbs more than the European version (2,172 vs. 1952 lbs) because of federal crash standards.
The Alfa Romeo 4C debuts in North America at the New York Auto Show in April and should hit US showrooms in Spring 2014.* While we wait, I have assembled a complete overview below with the help of Fiat Group Press to get you thoroughly familiar with the new 4C. Enjoy!
Alfa Romeo 4C: ‘just drive’
4 kg/HP, from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.5, 137 HP/litre and 1.2 g of deceleration: 'just drive'
'Just drive' is a clear invitation to experience those genuine sensations that only Alfa Romeo is able to offer. The new signature that will accompany the communication of the Alfa Romeo models originates with the presentation of the 4C, the small thoroughbred car that marks the return of the brand to the world of lightweight sports coupés.
Extraordinary performance, unique handling, extreme aerodynamics and design that takes up the stylistic features of the Alfa Romeo tradition. This in brief is the new Alfa Romeo 4C, a driving machine without compromise that beckons drivers to take to the road or track to experience the thrill of driving it.
The Alfa Romeo 4C is essentially a light weight, a car where everything has been designed to provide total driving pleasure. That same essentiality shaped its design. The car expresses a "natural beauty" that results from a perfect blend of function and form. Its layout and size immediately brings one of the most beautiful coupés of all time to mind, the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale. Like the legendary 33 Stradale, the 4C is designed to meet extreme mechanical and functional requirements. Its body aerodynamically 'covers' the engine and chassis with clean and essential surfaces.
Designed by Alfa Romeo engineers and made at the Maserati plant in Modena, this captivating coupé with two racing bucket seats uses materials and design solutions like carbon, aluminium, and rear-wheel drive derived from the 8C Competizione along with technologies from Alfa Romeo's latest models, all thoroughly revised to maximise the new car's sporting appeal. Proof of that lies in the new 1750 Turbo Petrol with direct injection and aluminium block, the sophisticated latest-generation "Alfa TCT" dry twin clutch automatic transmission and the Alfa DNA driving mode selector with the brand-new Race mode.
A length of approximately 4 metres and a wheelbase of less than 2.4 metres emphasise the car's compact size while also accentuating its agility. The dynamic qualities of the Alfa Romeo 4C are confirmed by a weight to power ratio of less than 4 kg/HP; it's a value worthy of a 'supercar'.
This vehicle quite simply screams Alfa. Its sports car soul creates unique driving sensations, both on the road and when racing, where velocity and transverse accelerations offer even the most expert driver unrivalled driving thrills: from 0 to 100 km/h in just 4.5 seconds flat, 258 km/h of top speed, deceleration peaks in the range of 1.2 g and lateral acceleration peaks over 1.1 g. All this is also achieved with a balanced weight distribution, with 40% on the front axle and 60% on the rear.
If these figures attest to the outstanding performance and dynamic qualities of the 4C, there is one characteristic enduringly connected to every Alfa Romeo: ease in recognising one of the brand's models through other senses. Not only is it eye-catching, but the sound of the engine has also been emphasised with low frequencies and the classic roar of the exhaust.
In the same way it has been studied with particular attention paid to an enveloping seat design so the car can be 'felt'. 'Body' perceptions are felt inside and even more so - with an added thrill - at the wheel. The brake, for example, can be modulated when loaded to get the necessary feedback even in the most demanding braking situations. Steering, which has to convey as much 'feel' as possible, is unassisted, progressive and direct, and the accelerator is ready to handle exits from curves with as much acceleration as possible.
The annual availability of the 4C Alfa Romeo on the major world markets is limited to only 3,500 units - 1,000 units of which are earmarked for Europe. Starting in October it can be ordered at all Alfa Romeo dealerships in Europe.
The 4C marks the launch of Alfa Romeo's global growth plan that, along with future models, is offered as a global brand that competes in the heart of the Premium market. This is the reason why it is developing synergies with the Premium brands of the Fiat-Chrysler Group, and Maserati in particular, which adds the strength of its history, its ability to innovate and its fame the world over. So in this sense the Alfa Romeo 4C supercar is a symbolic product with an extremely high level of quality and technological refinement that embodies the deepest values of the Alfa Romeo brand.
Design
- Balance: ultimate aerodynamic efficiency and elegant proportions
- Strength: muscle and sculpturesque shapes in rear volume and side
- Essentiality: functional interiors for total involvement in the driving experience
The compact dimensions make this car with 2 bucket seats truly unique among its competitors: it is just under 4 metres long, 200 cm wide, 118 cm high and with a wheelbase of less than 2.4 metres. These dimensions serve both to emphasise the car's 'supercar proportions' and to accentuate its agility.
Designed by Alfa Romeo Centro Stile, the development of the 4C's exterior was characterised from the start by the need to enhance the style of the car and the technical characteristics both from a dynamic and aerodynamic point of view. For this reason, all the style solutions adopted have been optimised in accordance with the ultimate goal of the car: performance.
To meet this end, the surfaces were treated as sculpture and engineers worked side by side with the designers to carve all the innovative aerodynamic solutions out of it. The result of this teamwork led to a car that conveys pure sports style through a union of technology and beauty, which is an essential requisite for any Alfa Romeo sports car, where form is always first and foremost function. Besides, every structural element has been conceived for maximum dynamic efficiency, and to help create the downforce needed to ensure maximum grip under fast cornering.
The rear volume, sinuous and enveloping, encloses and embraces the beating heart of the car: the mechanics and the engine, visible through the rear window. All this, thanks to the development of a marked musculature above the wheels, lends strength and power to the rear area.
The rear musculature supports its structure on round rear light clusters and on the side air intakes necessary to cool the intercooler and the air inlet for engine intake. From the energy-charged rear volume and the two side air intakes spring the two long muscles which lend speed and dynamism to the side, generating the necessary volume at the front end to house the headlights and, on the central part, the two robust ribs running along the bonnet, tracing the unmistakable "V" and coming to their natural conclusion around the shield. This, together with the two side intakes, forms the famous 'Trefoil', a distinguishing trait of all Alfa Romeo cars.
Even at the rear, what first appears to be an element of pure graphics actually serves a clear purpose. Look at the two lines alongside the number plate holder: aesthetically, these create two points of light that add movement and dynamism to the rear volume. Functionally, however, they also protect the light cluster from pendular weight in the event of rear impact.
The entire tail section ─ starting from the rear upper profile and the lower profile characterised by a large "diffuser" with aerodynamic spoiler and air outlets ─ was subjected to extensive wind tunnel testing to ensure the best possible aerodynamic performance.
Lastly, the exterior colour range reflects the spirit of the car and is essential as the Alfa personality demands: red, white, black and grey. However, special attention has been paid to technology with the introduction of three-layer colours. The by now consolidated and well-known Competizione Red is the essence of the Alfa Romeo spirit with its depth, shine and iridescence that shapes the volumes of the car.
Tradition and future
The Alfa Romeo 4C immediately brings to mind some of the traditional iconic models which have left a significant mark in the history of the Brand. Above all others, in terms of dimensional and layout similarities, one stands out in particular: the 33 Stradale of 1967, a car that combined extreme mechanical and functional requirements with an essential style which "clothed" the engine and chassis appropriately with unmistakable Alfa Romeo treatments.
The Alfa Romeo 4C has followed suit, and thus completes a journey which was embarked upon with the 8C Competizione, emphasising some particular concepts of the brand, such as compact size, dynamism and agility. The same search for the bare essentials has been applied to building one of the world's lightest-weight cars, the Alfa Romeo 4C. A downright search for the ideal weight led to the formula to combine 'lightness and efficiency' while exploring new solutions and materials, not to mention meticulous development work involving highly advanced technologies, in many cases coming from the excellence of Formula 1 or the aviation sector.
The combination of 'Lightness & Efficiency' was the concept behind the design of some unforgettable Alfa Romeos of the past, such as the unforgotten star at Le Mans, the 8C 2900 B Touring of 1938 with full aluminium body, or the 1900 C52 "Disco Volante" of 1952 with a top speed of 230 km/h and weighing just 760 kg.
The captivating 4C is also the vehicle with which Alfa Romeo expresses its interpretation of 'Technology' - just like the 2010 Giulietta, the first car in the world to develop and adopt the TCT - and of 'Dynamism', a value that immediately brings to mind the 8C Competizione of 2007, the fastest Alfa Romeo road car in history and produced in a limited series of 500 units.
Today these values - Technology and Dynamism, Lightness & Efficiency, Italian Style - take shape in the new Alfa Romeo 4C, an uncompromising though accessible sports car, a technological and sensual supercar that offers precision, agility and great performance. In short, it is a car to drive and enjoy both on the road and on the track.
Interior
The interior of the Alfa Romeo 4C is the result of an in-depth study of anthropometric and ergonomic parameters that established a relationship between the sports layout of the car and features that form a 'continuity' with the design of the body. It is a design concept in which the various elements - dashboard, instruments and seats - follow specific driver and passenger usability and comfort criteria.
Definition of the interior took on particular importance when configuring the carbon fibre 'monocoque' cell. This veritable 'monolithic core' led to a rational organisation of the main construction elements in keeping with the principle of integrating parts and optimising weights. Initially focused on arranging controls and instruments so they are turned toward the driver, this approach actually simplified construction in terms of assembly processes and separation into subassemblies when industrialising the project.
The climate control system ducts are integrated with the entire dashboard block, which contains a supporting 'technical spider' structure inside the mould. Consisting of a thermoformed shell like those found on limited edition supercars, the dashboard is designed to make using functions simple and reaches its zenith in the concept of extreme driver-orientation, thanks to digital instruments and gear shift controls located on the appropriately shaped steering wheel.
The cockpit, which powerfully suggests the world of motorcycle racing and race cars, brings together all information necessary to drive and control the car. All readings are visible on the instrument panel, comprising an original digital display, containing all the control functions for the Alfa Romeo supercar.
This formal construction simplification in terms of reducing the number of components and placing the various parts in clear view meets the goal of concentrating the relationship with the car's interior on the experience of driving. User-friendly and formal importance was given to positioning the TCT transmission selector, activated by buttons on the tunnel console, the gear change levers on the steering wheel, and the DNA system selector for changing the operating parameters of the engine and the chief mechanical and electronic devices.
With regard to the selection of materials, the Alfa Romeo 4C project is a perfect synthesis of the brand's values. It is a combination of advanced technology and dynamism, sportiness and performance, and tradition and modernity. The lines, shapes, materials and colours emphasise this desire to take centre stage: the pride of being an Alfa Romeo. The material is not intended as a covering, but as an enhancement of the external and internal skin, volumes and, where possible, as a visible structure. The material is the very essence of the structure.
The aesthetic choices are based on technical and natural materials, and not appearance, but substance. The interior space is minimal and 'naked' in its treatments and finishes. The environment is dark black, embellished only by a few metal details with an aluminium effect. The real protagonist is carbon. As it is a structure, it is found both inside and outside the car in an aesthetic continuum and conveys technicality and lightness at the same time.
The seats, with a composite structure, ensure the perfect feeling of the road that the driver gets, thanks to the possibility of finding an ideal driving position while guaranteeing comfort even in everyday use. In detail, the seat upholstery ranges from technical fabrics with high performance and robust nylon yarns to natural leathers in the colours of Alfa Romeo tradition: red for sportiness and "dinamica", a polyester microfibre with a soft and adhesive touch to keep grip on the seat, as well as on the road. Also the internal 'asphalt type', 3D and 'rough' grains call the real subject matter to mind: contact with the road. Finally, the pedal unit and footboards for driver and passenger are made of aluminium, in this way highlighting its sports character down to the smallest detail.
Architecture
- Two bucket seats, rear wheel drive with a mid/rear mounted transverse engine
- Weight distribution: 40% on the front axle and 60% on the rear
Driving pleasure is the result of carefully balanced design. Rear wheel drive and a centrally mounted engine: the architecture of the Alfa Romeo 4C is typical of competition cars in which perfect weight distribution is the primary objective.
The Alfa Romeo 4C has rear wheel drive to make full use of the dynamic advantages afforded by this configuration. Rear wheel drive gives better grip under acceleration, when engine power throws weight towards the rear of the car. Rear wheel drive also lets you enter curves at higher speeds, delivering a far more intense driving experience.
The aluminium engine is centrally mounted. This significantly reduces weight as it eliminates the need for a propeller shaft and optimises weight distribution - 40% on the front axle and 60% on the rear - by concentrating mass near the centre for crisper handling.
Aerodynamics
- A negative Cz contributes towards achieving increased stability at higher speeds
- Cx equal to 0.34, the best value among cars with negative lift
Having defined the 4C's architecture, Alfa Romeo engineers started to search for the most suitable materials for this solution. Aluminium, steel, SMC and carbon fibre were chosen for their ability to combine lightness and efficiency. In this way a total dry weight of only 895 kg was achieved. This record makes the Alfa Romeo 4C one of the lightest cars in the world.
