SPIED On The STREET! It's Official! Alfa Romeo Has Made A PROPER Return To The U.S.!

They shut down U.S. operations because of low sales. How are they going to reverse that?

A proper return? They resurrected the Pontiac Fiero and are going to sell it well north of $50k through 80 some dealers. Pure idiocy. Alfa Romeo is still dead and this will do NOTHING to keep it afloat. Dead like Lancia.

Why would anyone ever pick this piece of junk over a Boxter or Cayman S?\

I'm sorry it's not ACTUALLY a pretty enough car to make up for what will undoubtedly be a massive quality and reliability gap. I guess the one thing about not having power steering is that it's one less thing that will break.

It's horribly overpriced. The only thing it has going for it is exclusivity, but it's ELR-type exclusivity in the sense of "oh, wow, you actually decided to buy it..."

Why would anyone waste their money on a Porsche Caymen when they could buy the GORGEOUS 4C? It will be more reliable, FAR cheaper to own, and MUCH more fun to drive!
Fiat/Alfa quality is now absolutely WORLD CLASS (I am a quality manager for a very well-known automotive supplier,and I keep up with Fiat-Chrysler). The Alfa's engine and bits are mass-produced enough that spare parts will be very affordable (unlike the Porsche), the carbon-fiber chassis is FAR for advanced than the Porsche, and best of all: within a year, for maybe $1000, you will be able to buy a tuning box and CAI that will boost the Alfa to about 300hp. At THAT power level, comparisons with the Caymen will be completely laughable! 911 Turbos and 458 Italias will be the competition!!!

You're being facetious, right?

You're delusional.

Well considering you can get reliable 220HP out of a 1.4 turbo engine from the Fiat Abarth with a Unichip, 300 HP out the 1.75 version of the same engine is not exactly a stretch. I'm not going to boast of the quality of the Alfa 4C as this is a brand new vehicle. What I can say that my Fiat Abarth has been very reliable over the past couple years. It has been just as reliable as my 06 Mini Cooper S was. Quality is another issue. I would say that the interior plastics on my Abarth are not up to the VW GTI or current Mini Cooper. It is on par with what my 06 was. I would predict that the Alfa 4C will be reliable mechanically. One reason for this is this. Other than a carbon fiber tub and chassis it is a fairly simple car. it probably has some Fiat and Chrysler parts in it in terms of dashboard electronics. There just isn't a lot of electrical components in it. It has no power steering. So then it becomes a matter of simple preference. A Porsche Boxster/ Cayman is a much more comfortable luxurious car. Porsche has a lot more systems and subsystems on their cars. While they are fairly reliable there maintenance costs are going to much higher than this Alfa. In terms of performance the Alfa is on par with a Cayman S. However the Cayman will be more comfortable to drive. The Alfa will be more exclusive. With amount of cars they are planning to sell per yr. Alfa will have no trouble selling ALL of them. The final point is this. Both Alfa and Fiat are a different animal today then they were 20, 30, or 40 yrs. ago. I've owned 3 Alfa's all from the mid 80's. They were built poorly.
I would have to say that Fiats of that era were not really any better. they just cost less to buy. However comparing a Fiat or Alfa of that era to one of today would be mind boggling. Fiat products of today are just as reliable as any VW, Audi, Mini, Chevy etc. While the quality of the interior plastics could be better every part on my Abarth Fits perfectly. It starts every day in any kind of weather. It has never left me stranded on the road. Ok if I based reliability on the size of it's cup holders it would be an absolute fail. However the electronic sun roof works better than my Mini's did, it has great A/C, the windshield wipers run better. In terms of things working the way they should I could be driving a Toyota or Mazda. Further a lot of people do not remember Alfa or Fiat when they left the market. If Fiat were so bad why are their sales up to 90% of what Mini's are with less then 1/2 the product? You may not like them, like their design and wish that they fail. Chances are they probably will not due to the integration with Chrysler. By the way Chrysler has had sales increases virtual every month since they have arrived out of bankruptsy. Jeep is their strongest brand including the Cherokee(which as an Alfa Romeo chassis). The new 200 is going to be probably the 4rth best seller in the US behind, Camry Accord, and Altima. It will probably be fighting out with the Fusio

I have never and probably will never own a Fiat. I was never a fan because of the reliability issues from years ago. I can't comment on the modern day reliability but I can comment on this.
With a carbon fiber chassis, the 4c has very obviously been designed from the ground up to be a sports car. To try and draw a parallel to the Pontiac Fiero is totally ridiculous.
Some of the designers at GM wanted to design a sports car but the bean counters decided they couldn't sell enough of them and they insisted they make it into a sports car/commuter car. It was a hopeless failure at both. Commuters thought it too cramped and not enough seats. One could by a Toyota Corrola for less. The sports car guys in that price range knew it was a compromise, handled poorly and had a boat anchor iron Duke 4 for an engine. The MR2 was a far superior car with more power and far better handling for about the same money.
The price of the 4C is what will probably kill it. As well as it allegedly handles, most of the guys that can buy cars in that price are in an age range that will cause them to want the comfort of the Cayman.