News of an open-top version of Alfa Romeo's 4C have been doing the rounds since we drove the two-door coupé last year and if the rumours are to believed such a car will debut at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show in concept form.
No official word has come from Alfa Romeo on the car and all we have to go on is this image from www.0-100.it, but prototypes that are supposedly a Spider version of the mid-engined sports car have been seen and Geneva was the location of the 4C concept launch itself so romanticism would point to Alfa bringing the Spider version to the banks of Lake Geneva too. The exact mechanics of the open top Alfa are still up for debate with some speculating on a removable roof that is manually stowed in a special compartment in the boot while others point to an automated process similar (in concept if not implementation) to that of the Porsche 911 Targa. There is even talk of a folding rag top, though quite how that would work with the 4C's rear buttresses remains to be seen.
What we do know is that, thanks to the car's carbon fibre construction, a minimal amount of strengthening will need to be applied to account for the loss of the roof, meaning the 4C Spider should still come in under the 1,000kg mark.
Anything else?
It would appear that the design team at Centro Stilo were not best pleased with the headlights applied to the 4C coupé and have reimagined the units originally found on the concept in Plexiglas, which should keep the bean counters happy and give the 4C the front end it deserves. All will we revealed in just a few days.