MX-5-Based Alfa Romeo Spider

About a week ago we heard that Mazda and Alfa Romeo are teaming up to share the next generation MX-5′s chassis, which will be used by Alfa to make a new roadster. Alfa didn’t make it clear, but it is a project to revive the Alfa Spider, a new version of the car Dustin Huffman drove in The Graduate. Guys at AutoExpress went ahead and made a speculative rendering of what such a car would look like. Design-wise, the two-seater Alfa harks back to the lines of the original Duetto Spider with a cute face and short overhangs. The car will only share its SKYACTIV rear-drive chassis with the MX-5. The body and engines will be all Alfa’s. The word is the new Spider will get a range of small petrol engines with power outputs between 135bhp to 175bhp. That sounds like enough, given the targeted weight of under 1000 kg. Let’s not forget a proper sports car is all about the simplicity. That is what made the MX-5 so popular. That said, we would really like to see a high-performance version of the Spider with the same engine 1.7 liter, 200bhp engine they use in the upcoming 4C.