Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Official: Alfa Romeo 4C appears uncovered before Geneva debut

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Just a day after we got our first good look inside the cockpit of the 2014 Alfa Romeo 4C, the slinky coupe that will bring the Alfa brand back to the US, the Italian company has given us a few images and a lot of information about the model. And boy, do we mean "model."

The 4C can trace its lineage and its name back to some of the great racing Alfa Romeos of old. Representing "Four Cylinders," the 4C moniker harkens to the legendary 8C and 6C from the 1930s and 1940s. The "4" in this case is shorthand for the company's 1.75-liter turbocharged four, and engine that is currently used in the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, good for about 232 horsepower in that application. We're told that the 4C will also use the company's "TCT automatic" dual-clutch transmission - the press release doesn't make mention of a number of ratios, but in the Giulietta the TCT is a six-speed affair, so that's a great guess.

As we speculated after seeing the selector switch yesterday, the 4C will debut Alfa Romeo's newest "DNA selector," which will allow for a variety of driving modalities. Dynamic, Natural, All Weather and the new and very promising Race modes will be available, most likely adjusting the response of the engine, brakes, steering effort and shift programming.

Of course, anyone that has proved susceptible to the charms of Alfa Romeo styling in the past, won't be safe around this lovely, compact coupe. We see a lot of the Lotus Elise in the greenhouse of the car, surrounded by flowing, unctuous bodylines from stem to stern. Your friendly Autoblog editors haven't gotten an invitation to drive the 4C yet, but this writer would like to take a moment to formally call "dibs."

Expect a lot more about the 2014 Alfa Romeo 4C when we see the car in the metal at its Geneva debut, next month. Until then, look closely at the gallery of images and peruse the press release below.

Continue reading Alfa Romeo 4C appears uncovered before Geneva debut

Alfa Romeo 4C appears uncovered before Geneva debut originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Feb 2013 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.autoblog.com/2013/02/12/alfa-romeo-4c-appears-uncovered-before-geneva-debut/

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