Bright AlfaRomeo news to start the week with some Monday cheer: we reveal plans to end the decade-long Spider interregnum – with a new, electrified 2+2 convertible dripping with Alfa style 🕷
► Benchmark sports car flips to EV Alfa Romeo is planning to crown a revitalised range with a new Spider sports car - ending a decade-long interregnum with no mainstream roadster in the range. Turin will reboot the beloved Duetto Spider as an electric convertible fit for these straitened times.
The Stellantis group has ‘locked and funded’ a new model programme, in a bid to transform Alfa Romeo from everyone’s theoretical dream car into a fast-growing stable of irresistible premium products. The design team is flat out on six projects, and engineers are striving to embed Alfa’s high-performance, driver-centric ethos in the group’s platforms. . It’s more than a decade since the last open-topped Alfa Romeo Spider ceased production, and that front-wheel-drive lump was a pale shadow of the ’60s original, made famous by Dustin Hoffman in‘At some point we will have to do a Spider, and a coupe,’ says Alfa Romeo head of design Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos. ‘This is an attainable dream, though [first] we have a lot of things to do. The Spider fits Alfa Romeo’s image. It’s visceral and you get the Italian joy of life. Who doesn’t dream about going with a Duetto along the Lago di Garda? The freedom, the sun – it’s a dream that we try to inspire.’ While the original mounted four-cylinder engines in the nose, the new-generation Spider will be a pure electric car, allowing a whole new set of proportions and packaging.The new convertible, depicted in our artist’s impressions by Andrei Avarvarii, is likely be spun off the STLA Medium platform, due to come on stream in 2023. That offers up to 104kWh of battery capacity, and electric motors punching out up to 241bhp. But how many e-motors would the Spider deploy, and where would they be mounted? The original Duetto was rear-wheel drive, and the backbone of Alfa’s 2016 relaunch was the Giulia and base Stelvio’s rear-wheel-drive Giorgio architecture, because then Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne insisted it was the only layout that could match BMW. Will New Alfa’s flagship cars be rear-drive? ‘The question of rear-drive or all-wheel drive is on the table at the moment,’ Alfa CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato tells CAR in an exclusive interview. ‘Why not rear-wheel drive – if I have the performance! Obviously I love rear-wheel drive, but if I lose Alfa power or torque because I’m only rear-wheel drive then I prefer to be all-wheel drive.’ The STLA platforms are modular, so the electric drive modules can be mounted at the front or rear, or combined for all-wheel drive. Expect the base Spider to have rear-wheel drive – assuming STLA Medium is sufficiently lightweight to ensure it’s not underpowered – with performance versions powering both axles and gunning for 500bhp.Given the space-efficiency of electric platforms, the new Spider is likely to have room for at least two occasional rear seats. But head of design Mesonero-Romanos will insist on strong proportions, including a long bonnet emulating history’s great combustion-engined GTs. The wheelbase will be stretched, overhangs pared back and the wheels big, but with an aerodynamic design to reduce drag. Expect a pronounced rear spoiler and diffuser to similarly finesse aerodynamics and boost range. And the look? ‘Don’t expect retro cars. Our cars are going to be full Alfa Romeo, they’re going to be daring,’ he grins. His approach will be to try to capture the Duetto’s spirit, using minimal styling lines and trying to make a battery-powered car look light and nimble. Nonetheless occupants may sit a little higher because the powerpack will be mounted under the floor. The Spider may be a new-wave convertible but one thing’s for sure: Alfa’s iconic Scudetto grille will be present. ‘We need it! One of the myths is that electric cars don’t need air intakes: we need to get the air through to cool the batteries,’ says Mesonero-Romanos . But first there’s a business case to make. And given the industry has axed many convertibles and coupes as sales have plummeted, it won’t be easy. ‘Today, there’s not a single electric cabrio: it is hard,’ admits the head of design. ‘But we need to make people fall in love with cars again.’ And the Spaniard believes that as electrification eliminates tail-pipe emissions, public opinion might again favour cars that some currently consider unforgivably indulgent.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
McLaren 765LT Spider Road Test | Clearing the air on Angeles CrestDriving the new $500,000 McLaren 765LT Spider on Angeles Crest Highway north of Los Angeles.
Read more »
Spider-Man Villains Take Elevator Ride In No Way Home Deleted Scene ImageA new image from a SpiderManNoWayHome deleted scene shows May and Peter riding an elevator with Electro, Doc Ock, Sandman, and Green Goblin.
Read more »
Hollywood Flashback: ‘Spider-Man 2’ Won Marvel’s First — and So Far, Last — Oscar for Visual EffectsSpiderMan 2 is Marvel's only VFX Oscars win, and also the only win for a superhero movie
Read more »
William Hurt, Who Won an Oscar for ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman,’ Dies at 71The actor, who starred in “Body Heat” and “Broadcast News,” was suffering from prostate cancer.
Read more »
Inside Rochelle Humes daughter's Spider-Man and princess themed birthday bashRochelle Humes pulled out all the stops to ensure one of her three kids enjoyed their special day over the weekend. The This Morning presenter managed to combine three very different themes in order to give daughter Valle the perfect party
Read more »
William Hurt, Oscar-winning actor for ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman,’ dies at 71William Hurt, whose laconic charisma and self-assured subtlety as an actor made him one of the 1980s foremost leading men in movies such as “Broadcast News,' “Body Heat” and “The Big Chill,” has died. He was 71.
Read more »