Quick Announce

Italians are good at custom luxuries. At Alfa Romeo, the Italian motor car manufacturer, they play a nostalgic tune to reaffirm a sporting identity lost a long time ago. The alfists whose passion survived so many decades started to despair to see one day the 8C Competizione passing from a motor show dream to luxury reality. In spite of excuses due to the financial standing of the group FIAT, Alfa Romeo finally obtained, in March 2006, the green light to make this 2-seater reviving its sporting tradition.

That was worth the patience, because, since the marginal RZ of the beginning of the Nineties, one doubted the aptitude of the Italians to revive the virus of the alfists.

Car lovers were prompt to show their passion towards the power of the V8, developed in Maranello and concealed under a carbon skin. During the Paris Motor Show in 2006, where the Italian diva played the stars behind a glass, Alfa Romeo received more than 1,000 orders. This car is produced in limited numbers at Maserati, in Modena, at a rate of two units per day.

The 8C Competizione carries quotations and references to the cult Alfa models. If the name pays a vibrant homage to the famous 8C of twenties Zagato, the silhouette reminds of a little Giulia TZ in the grill, and of the 33 Stradale of 1967 designed by Franco Scaglione.

To place side by side the model and its copy, separated by forty years, causes a shock. As much the original is frail and tiny (39 inches high), as much the modern and round 8C appears to raise of another scale. The style deserves praises to have made a success of the challenge to preserve the purity of the engineering draft of 2003. The engineers had to meet this requirement at the time to graft a strongly shortened platform of Maserati Quattroporte. This strict 2-seater succeeds in putting a large V8 in front central position, with the gearbox at the back in order to guarantee an almost ideal distribution of the masses (49 % at the front, 51 % at the back).

The excitement is full when, after having started 286ci V8 which delivers 450 HP, one presses on the “sport” button located on the central console. The V8 thunders with a musical aggressiveness. The steering is of a total precision, and the brakes oversized.

In addition to a call center dedicated to the beast, Alfa offers to the 500 owners to carry out a training course (US$12,000) and a multitude of custom equipment: custom paint (US$22,000), braided or granulated leather (US$3,000) matched with specific seams (US$500), custom brake color (US$1,500), plate “500 Limited Edition” with the owner’s name (US$800) and a set of luggage (US$5,000) coordinated with the car’s upholstery. Especially designed to occupy the rear space, the latter is strongly recommended.

Enthusiastic with the success of the 8C, Alfa Romeo now plans to produce a spider version limited to 500 numbered units. But not before 2009 and the return of the Quadrifoglio on the North-American continent.

###