Detroit Motor Show: Alfa reveals 4C Spider

IT’S SO beautiful it’ll make your eyeballs melt, but you’ll have to wait until at least 2016 to see Alfa’s 4C Spider on Aussie roads.

Just unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show, Wheels can reveal Australian deliveries of the production-ready 4C won’t begin until at least the start of 2016 due to supply issues.

Still, don’t expect the wait to hamper sales. Alfa claims more than 50 people have already expressed interest in the 4C Spider which, like the 4C coupe, is powered by a 177kW/350Nm 1.75-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol.

And don’t think lopping off the roof has turned the 4C Spider into a poseur-mobile with the dynamics of warm butter. Engineering wizardry and the car’s carbon-fibre tub construction mean that dynamically the Spider is virtually identical to its hardtop brother, with the same 4.5sec 0-100km/h sprint from the same mid-engined, rear-drive layout.

The biggest difference is weight, the Spider’s removable cloth roof adding 10kg over the coupe, meaning a kerb weight of 1128kg.

Owners will also have the option of an exposed carbon-fibre targa-style hardtop and the choice of a new bi-modal titanium exhaust system.

Built by Akrapovic (the same mob that makes MotoGP exhausts), the performance exhaust replaces the standard car’s side-mounted exhaust tips with a central design.

No word yet on pricing, or even whether the Spider will command a premium over the hardtop, but expect the 4C Spider to land somewhere in the $90,000-$120,000 bracket.