Overseas media trips usually follow a strict regimen — you eat, sleep and drive whatever’s on “The Plan” and you do not deviate from it. So while the original plan was to drive a couple of Fiats, a Wheels scribe from our little Middle Eastern group requested to drive an Alfa Romeo 4C in the free time before we flew back to Dubai. And our Italian handlers obliged. What came next was a drive that shattered expectations.
The Fiat-Chrysler Group released two new sports coupes at this year’s Dubai Motor Show, both stunning and completely unlike each other. The SRT Viper and the Alfa Romeo 4C were officially launched, at a show stand that boasted all sorts of hot metal from Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Fiat-Abarth.
The Alfa Romeo 4C recently set a new record at the Nurburgring for under-250 hp cars, with a time of 8 minutes 4 seconds. It just adds to the allure of a car that will soon debut in the GCC.
These are the first computer-enhanced photos of the upcoming 2014 Alfa Romeo 4C, the Italian carmaker’s first proper sports car in years, aside from the expensive short-lived 8C Competizione.