Skip advert
Advertisement

Alfa Romeo 4C Spider opens for business in Detroit

The Alfa Romeo 4C sports car gains an open-topped Spider version at the 2015 Detroit Motor Show

Alfa Romeo has presented the full-production 4C Spider at the Detroit Motor Show this week. The car is due on sale in time for summer with a price tag around the £52,000 mark.

The convertible version of the spicy Italian two-seater was first shown at the Geneva show in 2012, but in concept form only. Since then, Auto Express has spied Alfa engineers testing convertible mules, and now the firm is ready to reveal all.

Alfa 4C fans will be excited to hear that the Italian car maker hasn’t played around with the recipe too much. Naturally, the big news concerns the roof, which is made entirely out of fabric, and to keep the weight down, there is no electric mechanism. To remove the roof, owners will have to manually pop it and stow it away while an exposed carbonfibre hardtop will be available as an option. Other weight-saving measures include the fitment of 10 per cent thinner windscreen and side window glass. It all means the Spider carries a 10kg weight penalty over the Coupe version.

Advertisement - Article continues below

Other changes include the removal of the Coupe’s much-criticised and fussy headlamp clusters and replaced by simpler single-piece units, and as shown on Geneva’s Spider Concept, a centrally-mounted Akrapovic sports exhaust system. Now there’s no roof, the engine is now enclosed with a twin-hump cover, elevating the body above the belt-line.

With the Spider’s launch, Alfa has also chosen to introduce a raft of upgrades to the interior. An Alpine radio can now be selected giving Bluetooth streaming and HD radio, and there are six interior options and new leather combinations.

On the outside there’s the choice of seven colours including a vibrant yellow paint option, as pictured, four new wheel designs and four brake caliper options. As before, customers can choose between 17-inch (front) and 18-inch (rear) alloys or 18-inch (front) and 19-inch (rear) wheels.

That’s where the changes stop as the mid-mounted 1.75-litre four-cylinder engine still develops 237bhp with 0-62mph taking around 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 160mph. It arrives in the summer with a predicted price of around £52,000, £7k more than the Coupe.

Get up to date with all the latest from the 2015 Detroit Motor Show

Skip advert
Advertisement

Find a car with the experts

Skip advert
Advertisement

Most Popular

Flawed hybrid car efficiency data to stifle UK EV sales and propagate pollution
Connecting charger to Hyundai Tucson PHEV

Flawed hybrid car efficiency data to stifle UK EV sales and propagate pollution

Half a million extra PHEVs could reach UK roads by 2030 in place of cleaner EVs due to changes surrounding the ZEV Mandate
News
19 May 2025
New Ford Fiesta: latest details on supermini’s potential return
Ford Fiesta exclusive image

New Ford Fiesta: latest details on supermini’s potential return

The Ford Fiesta could be coming back as an electric car, and here’s everything we know so far
News
20 May 2025
Kia is returning to its 'Keeping It Affordable' roots
Opinion - Kia

Kia is returning to its 'Keeping It Affordable' roots

Mike Rutherford thinks new cars are simply too expensive, but some manufacturers are starting to do something about it
Opinion
19 May 2025