Alfa's lightweight special

Alfa Romeo’s rival to the iconic Lotus Elise has finally gone into production, with the Italian company revealing some of the car’s secrets.

Leading the 4C’s charge is its weight, or lack of it. Through a combination of lightweight materials and engineering wizardry, the 4C hits the scale at just 895kg dry.

That’s dangerously close to the Lotus Elise’s 876kg kerb weight, although the Lotus is full of fluids (petrol, oil etc) while the 4C isn’t.

But unlike the Lotus, which is as comfortable and as well-equipped as a Bolivian prison, the 4C should be a car you can use every day.

Power is in the 4C’s favour too, with its 1.75-litre turbo four producing 175kW.

That’s 75kW more than the base Elise and 12kW more than the more expensive Elise SC.

We can’t wait for it to launch here…