Alfa's production 8C Spider unveiled

The Alfa Romeo 8C coupe went into production at the end of last year and has already sold out. Striking while the iron is hot, Alfa has also launched a Spider open-top model to complement the coupe.

The Italian marque had introduced the prototype for the 8C Spider at the Pebble Beach Classic Car show in the US, back in 2005. Now, the production version has made it to the Geneva Motor Show for its worldwide debut.

Unfortunately, we won't be seeing either the coupe or the Spider in Australia, since neither car will be built in RHD form. The Spider, as with the Coupe, is the product of the fertile minds employed in Alfa Romeo's 'Centro Stile'. Both cars share mechanicals and two-seat configuration.

For the Spider, the Alfa designers developed an electro-hydraulic powered folding roof, with a weatherproof outer fabric layer and an internal sound-insulating layer. Within the cabin, the seats are formed from carbonfibre and are trimmed in Frau flower leather (leather bonded to a woven fabric).

Structurally, the 8C Spider features carbonfibre panels fitted to a lightweight steel frame. According to Alfa, this type of construction not only keeps weight to a minimum, but allows the engineers to distribute weight with much more discretion -- for the sake of the vehicle's centre of gravity and front-to-rear balance.

Given the car's relatively light mass, it can be expected to go pretty hard, powered as it is by a 90 degree V8 measuring 4.7 litres, with the torque fed through a six-speed automated sequential-shift manual transaxle, located at the rear.

Carbon-ceramic brakes are supplied by Brembo and measure a 380mm diameter at the front and a 360mm diameter at the rear. The 20-inch wheels are shod with 245/35 front tyres and 285/35 rear tyres.

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