GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Alfa Romeo 4C interior revealed

After years of development, Alfa Romeo has revealed the interior of its 4C baby supercar, the final production version of which was revealed ahead of its Geneva motor show debut two weeks ago.

Confirmed for release in Australia next February, the carbon-fibre Italian charger will reach production with a two-seat cabin designed for speed and practicality as much as for style.

Carrying over many of the Giulietta’s parts and design features, the rear-wheel drive 4C coupe has a clear and simple layout, with plenty of raw carbon-fibre on display on the sills, doors and seats.

Designed to lead Alfa Romeo’s relaunch into the United States, the 4C comes with a development of the Alfa DNA switch to allow it to switch between Dynamic, Normal and All-weather modes, but adds in a Race mode, too, to show that Alfa is serious about the 4C’s sporting pretentions.

Gear-shifting will either be done automatically or controlled by the driver via paddles mounted on the flat-bottomed, leather steering wheel.

But while its interior is fittingly sophisticated, the bigger news is that the Compact Supercar (as Alfa is calling it) will be fast. Properly fast.

It might be a four-cylinder car delving into the sub-$100,000 world of sports cars beneath the Porsche Boxster, but predictions are that the mid-engined 4C will use all of its carbon-fibre advantages to deliver a power-to-weight ratio up there with the best.

Alfa is claiming a horsepower/kilogram ratio of less than 4kg/CV (CV is shorthand for Cavalli – Italian for horses), which gives it a kerb weight somewhere around the 900kg figure. The target weight figure was 850kg and Alfa is still being coy about whether or not it has hit it.

One thing that is agreed on by Alfa is how much power the 4C’s direct-injection turbocharged in-line four-cylinder engine will give its rear wheels.

The 1.75-litre engine, a development of the motor already seen in the Cloverleaf version of the MiTo, offers 240CV (around 177kW) of power. That might not sound much, but when that’s coupled with a relatively featherweight mass, it should hurl the 4C to 100km/h in around five seconds.

The all-alloy four-pot has variable valve timing on both the inlet and exhaust cams and will be mated with a dual-clutch transmission, but the Fiat Power Train-developed gearbox is unusual in that it doesn’t run the clutches in an oil bath but leaves them dry.

The 4C is likely to have a limited-slip differential, at least as an option, but sources have admitted Alfa had trouble getting the 4C’s handling balance where it wanted it with the diff fitted.

The two-seat coupe (which will also spawn a convertible in 2015) will be on sale in Europe this year, but Australian buyers will have to wait until 2014 to put down their cheques – and Alfa’s local importer says its dealers have been swamped with enquiries.

Nobody will have to adjust their garages to slide it in though, with the 4C measuring a tad under four metres long and two metres wide at the mirrors. Wheelbase is just 2.4 metres long and it’s also just 1180mm high, so it will slide under most boomgates.

The 4C will be built by Maserati in its Modena factory, though development will continue in Alfa’s new home at Torino. It is also likely to spawn a new fast Maserati sports car as well.

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