The first U.S.-bound Alfa Romeo al fresco in decades looks to be the
best shot yet at improving the reliability rep of Italian cars in the states,
if only because the Japanese are building it.
Thanks to a partnership between parent company Fiat and Mazda, Alfa's
long-anticipated new Spider enters the world with a frugal but sprightly 1.4 liter turbocharged
engine motivating a mere 2,400 pounds of graceful Italian coachwork QCed by overachieving
OCDs in Hiroshima instead of lounging Luigis in Lainate.
This is
good news if you've always admired the driving dynamics of a Mazda Miata but
not its bland soap bar body, for this is the athletic Miata turned on, wrung
out, and corrupted by an Italian Stallion.
Artist
renditions fall into two camps to-date: a concept-faithful stunner with beautiful and flowing bodywork punctuated by LED-lit gun-slit eyes and a (more likely) 4C-ish riff ruined by the corporate chrome Alfa goatee (see above).
We should
know whether Alfa's 2015 revisition of 1967 will be beauty or beast in a few
long months.
