It's been a year and nine months since Alfa Romeo pulled the covers off the impressive 4C Sports Coupe concept at the 2011 Geneva motor show, and even though it had been initially suggested that we could see the final production model on sale this year, obviously that never happened.
Alfa Romeo officials have said that this may happen sometime in 2013, but with the Italian brand, one can never take these statements for granted – Alfa's on and off return to the U.S. market is a prime example…
Well, while we're waiting for the Italians to give us a date on the only interesting model it has in store for us , a driver in Italy spotted a camouflaged prototype of the 4C coupe -ahem- stranded on the side of a road.
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Just like carmakers in real life, independent designers drawing conceptual studies on paper or on computer screens will often revisit their work and implement styling changes to evolve their projects and/or possibly even address criticism about certain aspects of the design.
This seems to be the case with Italian designer Marco Procaccini from MP Car Design and his Alfa Romeo Orazio Satta, which we first showed you back in September.
Bet you weren't expecting Arabian style drifting (called hagwalah) to find its way into a mainstream music video clip from a British female rapper. Yet all this took place in M.I.A.'s brand new song called "Bad Girls" which fuses the sounds of Middle Eastern music with rap lyrics.
The 36-year old singer of Sri Lankan descent, whose real name is Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam, filmed the entire music video in the Middle East showing local drivers with a selection of European cars like the Alfa Romeo 156 and the BMW 3-Series hagwalah-ing.
Drift over the break to watch the music clip.
Thanks to the interwebs, we now have the first video clip of Zagato’s spanking new Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale that was introduced to the world just last week. Hiding underneath the Italian suit are the platform and the mechanical hardware of the now-obsolete Dodge Viper ACR including the 8.4-liter V10 engine. Zagato has not yet given information regarding output and performance numbers.
The Italian coachbuilder plans to build only 9 examples of the Alfa Romeo TZ3 Stradale with the American heart, with the first three cars having already been spoken for. To get a look of the new coachbuilt Alfa in the flesh and on the road, just hit the jump below.
I know some of our readers will disagree, hell, even some of the folks here at Carscoop will beg to differ, nevertheless, I'm going to say it: I'm utterly disappointed with the styling of Alfa Romeo's 4C Concept, which is slated to enter production in 2012. Alfa had a unique chance to redefine its design language with its first mainstream rear-wheel drive model in decades but instead chose to add the Mickey Mouse - bug face treatment to a body that looks awfully similar to the Lotus Elise.
The specific styling cues may work for the 8C Competizione but if you ask me, the 4C looks just as silly as the MiTo does. Granted; the true essence of the 4C Concept lays under the skin and in particular the mid-engine / rear-wheel drive architecture, but would it be much to ask for some of that styling magic Alfa Romeo has served us over the years?
As always, feel free to agree or disagree in our comments section below.
A "spy" video showing an Alfa Romeo 4C GTA and Spider has been circulating around the internet lately, with some screen shots even making their way on British car magazine Autoexpress which posted a story on its website the other day.
We had our doubts about its authenticity ever since we first saw the film last week, and today these suspicions were confirmed after we came in contact with Marco Procaccini from MPCARDESIGN who told us that he made the video as part of a new (independent) Alfa Romeo project he is working on. Apparently, someone got hold of Mario's video, and tried to pass it on as a scoop, duping many people in the process.
When the Nissan Versa was launched in Australia as the Tiida, many automotive watchers were excited by the prospect of blending Renault’s European flair with Nissan’s Japanese reliability. “Here,” they said, “Is a car that’ll please everyone.”
What they got was a narrow-bodied subcompact with so-so styling, a plasticy dashboard, a shocking lack of equipment and an overinflated price tag. Not to mention Kim Cattrall in the TV spots. If this sounds strangely familiar to our older readers, you’re right on the money. Twenty-three years before the crossbred Tiida hit Australian shores, another mongrel was being birthed in Europe.
From the creator of the Alfa Romeo Vittorio Jano Sedan and Sport Wagon concepts comes this new design study for a classy-looking GT. Named after Giuseppe Merosi, a famous Italian automobile engineer Giuseppe Merosi who worked for Alfa Romeo (then named A.L.F.A.) in the beginning of the previous century, the prototype presented by Marco Procaccini from MPcardesign is a four-seater sports coupe designed to feature a much missed by Alfa Romeo fans, rear-wheel drive layout.
Welcome to the story of the Alfa Romeo Nuvola Prototipo, one of the most gripping concepts to wear the famous Visconti Serpent badges in the past two decades. Unveiled for the first time at the Paris Motor Show in 1996, the Nuvola Prototipo was named after Tazio Nuvolari, the legendary Italian motorcycle and racecar driver who competed for Alfa in the 1930s.
The Nuvola had all the essential ingredients of a proper Alfa Romeo sports coupe - a beautifully crafted body and interior, classic proportions, a dedicated chassis and enough power to put a smile on your face.
Of course we would have preferred a rear-wheel drive setup, but its four wheel drive layout is much less of a compromise (for a sports car) than if power was transferred exclusively to the front axle.
This is IDECORE's (an acronym for "ideas, concepts, relationships") Alfa Romeo Monza V8,a new digital concept in honor of the Italian firm's centennial celebration. IDECORE, which bills itself as "independent designers and modelers", sees this model as an Executive Sport 2+2 with a next-gen Multiair V8 driving the rear wheels.
A few months back we showed you Marco Procaccini's Vittorio Jano design study for an Alfa Romeo 159 replacement (see here). The slinky fastback notably featured an aggressive front end treatment and a C-Column / rear glasshouse design somewhat reminiscent of the Lotus Evora.
Now Marco is back with a more practical Sport Wagon variant of the Vittorio Jano which -in theory- is 50 mm longer and 10 mm taller than its saloon sibling.
