Alfa's new car

[PonchoJohn]

This thing was shown at the Paris Auto Show... eerily similar to Pontiac's Solstice.

[showa]

Can you blame them ??? I would have liked the Solstice Coupe they origionly showed

[CruizinKev]

i liked the coupe version of it, alfa romeo 8c

[ArtosDracon]

I love Top Gears review of the 8C, first proof that cars can truely be art, only if they serve no real function, despite being sexier than Keira Knightly.

[PonchoJohn]

Can you blame them ??? I would have liked the Solstice Coupe they origionly showed

I agree... I wish it had made it had made production as originally shown.
The above pictured coupe is SWEET!

[wmhjr]

That is sure sexy!

[mc84_zz4]

I hope the Alfa sells like pancakes, that is a classic, sexy looking design.

Here is another shot of the now defuct Solstice GXP

[surlyjoe]

So the solstice coupe did make it to production? I thought it looked cool. Kind of like the z3 coupe bmw did.

[DarkBuddha]

eerily similar to Pontiac's Solstice.

Let's look at those again...





Alfa makes the Solstice look like a bucket IMHO. I hope it comes to the states and sells like hotcakes so I can buy one used in 5-10.

[PonchoJohn]

I was referring to the roadster originally, but if you wanna compare, at least use the preproduction Pontiac coupe that we are referring to.

[PonchoJohn]

[PonchoJohn]

[PonchoJohn]

[PonchoJohn]

The above shot REALLY shows a similarity and this one is production...

[ArtosDracon]

I liked the sharper more angular look of the sky much much more.

[DarkBuddha]

Alfa still makes it look like a bucket to me, but I did grow up driving Fiats, Lancias, and Alfas, so don't listen to me. And to its credit, the Solstice/Sky is a 10 year old design (at least) and still a killer car for the money. You can bet the Alfa will probably be twice what the Solstice/Sky sold for new.

[79-TA]

Let's see, these cars are both round-ish, red, and front engined. The roof lines in the rear are vaguely similar. That's about all the have in common. The Alfa is not remotely Miata sized. In fact, the Alfa has almost 10 inches more wheelbase. The cars aren't at all in the same category. The Solstice is a small sports coupe. That Alfa is a full-on GT car. It is built on a Maserati chassis with a Ferrari engine.



The Pontiac Solstice concept was unveiled in 2002. While the Alfa 8C concept did come second, it is by no means new or copied. The 8C Competizione was a limited production car made in 2007 and 2008.



The Alfa 8C concept was debuted in 2003 at the Frankfurt autoshow, based on the Maserati 4200GT. (you know, this car: )



The 8C draws its features from Alfas of the past. For instance, the TZ:




also, the Tipo 33:




Looking at the 8C Competizione (not to be confused with the original 8C from which it gets its name), please note the coke bottle lines present at both the belt line and door sills. I love (and WANT) the Solstice but past the basic rear roof line, I can see no similarity.

Alfa still makes it look like a bucket to me, but I did grow up driving Fiats, Lancias, and Alfas, so don't listen to me. And to its credit, the Solstice/Sky is a 10 year old design (at least) and still a killer car for the money. You can bet the Alfa will probably be twice what the Solstice/Sky sold for new.

It hasn't been 10 years yet. The initial Solstice concept unveiled in 2002. Assuming that meant drawings had existed a year beforehand, we're still not quite to the decade mark. The actual kappa platform wasn't in production until 2006. I'd call that a 4 or 5 year old platform, but if you want to date it by the day of its conception, that's just another way of looking at it.



One last note on how the Solstice and 8C are different . . . thousands of Solstices were sold during their tragically short production run. In contrast, only 500 coupes and 500 convertible Alfa 8C's were ever made. The coupes sold for about $240,000 while the convertibles went for about $300,000. That's about 10 times as much as a standard Solstice and 10 times as much as a Solstice GXP respectively.


If anyone was disappointed by the 8C's price, you can still get some of its styling in the Mito. Now that Fiat owns Chrysler, the Mito has a chance of making it to the states . . .

[DarkBuddha]

In contrast, only 500 coupes and 500 convertible Alfa 8C's were ever made. The coupes sold for about $240,000 while the convertibles went for about $300,000.

WOUCH! And there ya go... gorgeous Alfa design comes with a hefty price. But I can at least dream... I just added these two images to my rotating desktop: