Gone but not forgotten, Alfa may be making a comeback in the U.S. and the 8C Competizione may be the catalyst for it.
Many Americans remember Alfa Romeo from its '60s heyday, when Dustin Hoffman and his spunky Duetto convertible raced onto the screen (and indelibly into the culture), in The Graduate.
But 40 years post-Graduate, and 12 since Alfa-Romeo pulled the plug on its comatose U.S. sales, I find myself screaming around a northern Italian test track in the new 8C Competizione.
The 8C is the creation of noted designer Wolfgang Egger, who Audi recently lured from Alfa to head its own worldwide design. The roughly $250,000 sports car was the overwhelming choice of an international panel of car designers as the top production design of 2006. Only 500 will be built, with about 85 set aside for well-connected U.S. buyers.
Here, a skeptical Alfisti — as the marque's zealous followers are known — may be saying "So what?" Despite its speed and supermodel looks, the 8C is miles and years removed from the affordable-yet-desirable Alfas that still resonate with American enthusiasts and collectors.
Fortunately the 8C is not just a tease — the latest mega-priced supercar that most people will never see, let alone drive. Instead, the 8C may one day be viewed as the car that launched Alfa's U.S. comeback.
View Pictures: Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione
At a dinner in Modena — home to Maserati since 1914, where the 8C is already being built alongside the new Maserati Gran Turismo — company officials confirmed that it plans to offer a range of Alfa models in the U.S. beginning in late 2009 (Alfa, Maserati and Ferrari are all owned by Fiat SpA).
The lineup may include updates of the current Brera coupe and Brera Spider convertible, and possibly a new sport sedan and wagon. Alfa Romeo is also developing a crossover SUV slated for Europe around 2011, a model that might appeal to SUV-crazed Americans.
Besides the question of what models we'll be seeing, critics and potential customers will pay close attention to what they look like. As with most Italian brands, Alfa has a reputation for sexy styling to uphold. The first new models on our shores will be styled by Frank Stephenson, Alfa's new chief designer, who penned the BMW-built MINI Cooper that became a critical and sales phenomenon.
Alfa, having cried wolf before with U.S. comeback plans, is leery about saying too much too soon. But executives insist that this time it's the real thing. Alfa is currently studying the U.S. market and consumers, and working to line up strong dealers, including but not limited to current Ferrari/Maserati stores.
The company has suggested it could sell up to 20,000 cars annually in the U.S. — more than the pricier Ferrari and Maserati brands currently sell combined.
Richard Gadeselli, communications vice-president for Fiat Group Automobiles, acknowledged that the Italian automobile's reputation for being finicky and unreliable "is still hanging in the air." Yet the quality and performance of modern Alfas, he said, can convince Americans that old stereotypes are no longer valid.
"We understand the complexities of the American market, and we already compete strongly in Europe, the most competitive marketplace in the world. So we're not exactly quaking in our boots," Gadeselli said in his refreshingly defiant style.
On a drizzly morning at Alfa's Balocca test track, it was time to set business aside and focus on a glistening pair of 8Cs that Alfa rolled out for testing. Its shape and signature styling cues, including three-element headlights, recall classic Alfas including the Type 33 Stradale of 1967.
In modern fashion, the 8C shares genes with other cars in Fiat's thoroughbred stable. Riding on a Maserati GT chassis, it's powered by a new 450-horsepower, Ferrari-bred 4.7-liter V8, managed via a Formula 1-style automated manual gearbox.
Alfa alone gets credit for the beautifully understated body and interior. Nearly half the car's total mass is lightweight carbon fiber, including the body, dashboard and interior door panels. Inside, a center panel starts with a 230-pound hunk of aluminum that's whittled to yield an 11-pound piece of hand-burnished sculpture.
The seats, with their rigid carbon-fiber shells, may be bit unyielding for some tastes. Yet the firm chairs are somewhat soothed by a wide choice of leather colors and styles; and the availability of matching, fitted Schedoni luggage — including a must-have trunk case that holds three bottles of wine upright. Make mine Barolo . . .
On the track, the Alfa isn't as brutally quick as more powerful exotics (the 604-horsepower Ferrari 599 GTB comes to mind). It also doesn't transmit the fingertip sensations of a typical Ferrari, and could stand more steering feel and feedback.
Yet like that V12 Ferrari, it hews to a modern sports-car philosophy: massively capable, precisely balanced, yet comfortable and not intimidating to drive fast. This is accompanied by a spectacular sound that's all staccato barks and backfires, tuned to a rich baritone compared to the soaring tenor of a Ferrari.
As we leave the track, it occurs to me that this may be the first and last time I'll ever drive this exclusive machine. But I take heart in the thought of modern Alfas prowling the streets and backcountry roads of America.
With all due respect to Japan, Germany, or Detroit, it's easy to get bored with the same old faces. Nothing like some Italian beauties to spice things up — especially ones that mortals can actually afford.
A Michigan native raised and forged in Detroit and a former auto critic at the Detroit Free Press, Lawrence Ulrich now lives in Brooklyn, New York. His reviews and features appear regularly in The New York Times, Robb Report, Popular Science and Travel + Leisure Golf.
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