Top Gear continually goes on about the fact that unless you’ve owned an Alfa Romeo, you cannot call yourself a true automotive enthusiast. We respectfully disagree with them on this issue despite the fact that Alfa’s certainly have a lot of character. Unfortunately that character has been missing from the U.S. for the past few years as no Alfa’s are currently on sale in America, with the obvious exception of a few second-hand cars popping up here and there.

The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione was the last Alfa on the market, but the 4C coupe first revealed at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show is set to be the latest car from the Italian firm to hit the U.S. market and if Autocar is to be believed, the 4C may hit the production line before it was expected.

The Alfa Romeo 4C was initially reported to hit the U.S. market in production guise in 2014, but within 12 months it’s likely that the production ready version will debut at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show. It’s not yet known why the 4C may be hitting our shores before previously expected, but it’s likely that the recent announcement that Maserati will be constructing the 4C could speed up the production process.

If a debut in one year’s time does turn out to be true, then it’s highly possible that Alfa is currently finishing the minor details on the car as it could be previewed privately before the end of the year, although nothing has been confirmed thus far.

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