After a nearly two-decade absence, Alfa Romeo dealerships are going to make a comeback in the United States.
Arizona is getting two of the nation's 86 Alfa dealers, one in Tucson, and the other alongside Fiat of Scottsdale. Most of the Alfa dealers in the U.S. will be moving in with existing Fiat dealers (Fiat owns Alfa, among several other brands).
Now, the last time Americans could walk into a dealership and buy a vehicle from the Italian carmaker was in the mid '90s, with 1995 Alfa 164s being the last cars sold.
How they didn't sell a billion of these . . .
Since then, Alfa Romeo hasn't been in the country, except for the Alfa Romeo 8C Competiziones that were sold to a grand total of 90 American customers in 2008 (just 500 were produced).
The new dealers will be getting the Alfa Romeo 4C, a lightweight, rear-wheel drive sports car that's supposed to start around $55,000. Auto writers have continuously compared it to the Porsche Cayman, which is like the middle child between the Boxster and the 911.
A good primer on the 4C is the following /DRIVE segment:
The car has also been featured in a Top Gear episode, in which Richard Hammond races the 4C against Jeremy Clarkson in some sort of ATV/jet-ski hybrid:
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