Alfa Romeo has been rumored to be working on a new SUV for the 2013 model year, but since going big isn’t exactly the trend anymore, new rumors have surfaced that the Italian automaker is developing a small roadster. The new Alfa Romeo Spider is being considered a successor for the Brera Spider that was produced between 2006 and 2010 and is rumored to be priced at around $40K. When it debuts, it will be ready to take on the likes of the Mazda MX-5.
Alfa Romeo’s focus with Spyder is to develop a vehicle with a minimal total weight and compact dimensions. It will be built on a totally new chassis that will feature weight-saving technologies to help it weigh less than 2200 lbs, or about 220 lbs lighter than the current MX-5. For the engine, Alfa Romeo has borrowed a four-cylinder turbocharged petrol unit, detuned to a total of 150 HP.
The Alfa Romeo Spider will be offered on the US market, along with the 4C and the 159, an obvious move considering the Spider’s previous success on our side of the pond.
Alfa Romeo stopped production of their Spider model in 2010, but a leaked internal document has revealed that the Spider will be headed back intot he scene in 2014. The new Spider will be one of the models Alfa Romeo will offer as part of their return to the US market, an obvious move considering the Spider’s previous success on our side of the pond.
The 2014 Alfa Romeo Spider will take its design inspiration from the 2uettottanta revealed by Pininfarina at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show. However, unlike the 2uettottanta Concept, the production version Spider will have to adopt a more "road-going" design language. This will include the addition of bigger and higher headlamps with LED lights, as opposed to the previously used in the concept. Larger air intakes will also be added, among other things.
As for the engine options, Alfa Romeo may choose to use a four-cylinder turbocharged engine featuring Multi-Air infusion system with direct injection. There are also rumors stating that the next Spider may get a V-6 twin-turbo engine.
The previous Spider has been long criticized for its non-sporty appearance, but the new model will solve that problem, becoming a very serious competitor for models like the BMW Z4 and the Mercedes-Benz SLK.
UPDATE 11/18/2011: According to Auto Express, the long-rumored two-seater Alfa Romeo sports car will have one model in its sights when the car finally hits production: the Mazda MX-5 Miata. Seeing as the MX-5 is considered the holy grail of two-seater sports cars, Alfa Romeo definitely has its work cut out for them if they hope to even get a sniff of the rarefied air the MX-5 enjoys.
Alfa Romeo’s focus with Spyder is to develop a vehicle with a minimal total weight and compact dimensions. It will be built on a totally new chassis that will feature weight-saving technologies to help it weigh less than 2200 lbs, or about 220 lbs lighter than the current MX-5. For the engine, Alfa Romeo has borrowed a four-cylinder turbocharged petrol unit, detuned to a total of 150 HP.
The new Spyder is rumored to be priced at around $40K.
There’s some bad news for both the Alfa Romeo Brera and theSpider: starting this fall the two models will be going out of production after only a five year stint in the real world. That’s not all; neither of the two models will get a successor. Bad news all around.
The Brera was designed by Pininfarina and was considered one of the most beautiful cars in the world, at least according to Jeremy Clarkson. However, despite this, the car has never really been a financial success for the company. Many feel that both the Brera and the Spider have never received a challenging enough engine.
The Alfa Romeo Brera was offered with a range of outstanding high-tech power units that offered generous performances: a 185 bhp 2.2 unit and a 260 bhp 3.2 V6 unit, both JTS direct injection petrol units. For the Spider, a 1.8 16V and 2.0 16v Twin Spark engines were available along with a 2.0 V6 turbo that produced 200bhp or a 3.0 V6 in either 12 (192 bhp) or 24 valves (220 bhp).
Now it’s time for both models to swim with the fishes.
TopSpeed has some new renderings of what the next Alfa Romeo Spider will look like and it looks simply amazing. We all know that Alfa Romeos have always looked sensational and have always delivered that brilliant driving experience that can only be felt if you’ve owned one. They aren’t the fastest and they aren’t the most practical, but their unique design and lovable charm is what makes an Alfa, an Alfa.
The car is based on the Pininfarina 2uettotanta concept shown in Geneva and, based on how well it was received by the public, these new renderings might be an accurate representation of what the model will look like when it’s put into production.
Yet, as is the way with these things, health and safety folks are going to require a few changes before the car goes on sale. First off, the lights will need to be bigger and positioned higher. The LED lights that are currently on the car probably won’t be the only light source, so a blend of normal headlights and LEDs seem more logical. The air intakes need to be enlarged to ensure proper cooling for the V6 that will be under the hood.
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If you ever find yourself wondering who the brains are behind the new Alfa Romeo Spider, you might want to try and remember these three names: Alberto Gaiani, Massimo Paparella and Michela Zedda. These three are students from the Politecnico di Milano University in Italy and they’re responsible for this stylishly sexy study of the Alfa Spider.
The study, which was done in conjunction with the Italian automaker, focuses on a completely re-tooled version of the Spider that infuses both the car’s old-school inspiration in the iconic Duetto and combines it with the previous generation Spider of the 90’s and the wedge-shaped profile it came in.
According to Samuel Codegoni, a professor at PMU who assisted the three students in their design study, "One of the main ideas that drove this project was to express a sense of tension in action"
The study looks drop-dead gorgeous, if you ask us. It’s clean, aggressive, and decidedly more cutting edge in terms of its styling cues when compared to the prior models of the same line. We don’t know if Alfa Romeo will use this design for the next Spider, but we do know that these students should be given an ’A’ for their handiwork.
