Alfa Romeo to Re-Enter U.S. Market with Super-Coupe

After an absence of 13 years, Fiat SpA's Italian sports brand Alfa Romeo will return to the U.S. market this summer as an added product for the 45 Maserati dealers.

The re-entry vehicle will be the 8C Competizione coupe, a 450 horsepower V-8 whose suggested list price will be above $250,000, says an Alfa Romeo spokesman.

Only 90 Competiziones will be available for the U.S. this year, says the Milan-based Alfa Romeo. It will be an additional “supercar” for the Maserati dealers, 37 of whom also sell Ferarris in the U.S.

Following the launch of a hardtop model this year, Alfa Romeo plans to introduce a convertible edition in 2009

“If the first of the new generation of Alfas sells well, and we already have orders for most of the first Competiziones,” the Fiat subsidiary says, “we have plans to broaden the lineup in the '10-model year with three models already on sale in Europe — the 159 sports sedan, Brera 2+2 coupe and historic Spider two-seater.”

The Spider was one of the last Alfas offered in the U.S. before the brand pulled out in 1995 because of quality problems.

Fiat's chief executive officer, Sergio Marchionne, said at the Geneva auto show in March that a North America assembly plant for Fiat and Alfa Romeo cars is being considered. Fiat withdrew from the U.S. car market in the late 1980s.