Alfa Romeo will reveal a limited-edition sports car on Aug. 30 inspired by the Stellantis brand’s historic 33 sports-racing models, according to news reports.
The high-performance coupe is expected to be powered by a hybrid powertrain consisting of 3.0-liter V-6 engine and electric motors, with a total output of nearly 800 hp. A report in the Italian magazine Auto says it will be based on the Maserati MC20 Cielo roadster and will be called the Alfa 33.
The MC20 Cielo starts at 271,000 euros in Italy; a limited-edition Alfa 33 could potentially cost more.
According to other media sources, the car will be named 6C, pointing to a series of six-cylinder sportscars produced by Alfa Romeo from 1927 to 1953.
The designation also recalls the brand’s last production sports car, the mid-engine 4C, as well as the 8C Competizione, a limited-edition front engine model sold from 2007-10.
An Alfa Romeo spokesman would not comment on the car itself but said the name of the model would be revealed on Aug. 30.
Alfa Romeo has invited journalists to a “world premiere” event on Aug. 30 at the Stellantis brand’s museum in the Milan suburb of Arese. A teaser image on Twitter shows a grille and the phrase “Il coraggio di sognare” (Italian for “The courage to dream”). The event will be live-streamed, Alfa Romeo said.
Alfa Romeo CEO Philippe Imparato and head designer Alejandro Mesonero-Romanos have said they would like to see a “halo” sports car for Alfa Romeo, which has been part of Stellantis since January 2021. Imparato told the U.K. magazine Autocar earlier this year that the project was in development.
The 33 designation was first used by Alfa Romeo in the mid-1960s for a sports-racing model; later Alfa Romeo 33s won the world sports-car championship in 1975 and 1977.
A street-legal model, the T33 Stradale, was a rear-engine, rear-drive two-seat coupe powered by a 230 hp 2.0-liter V-8 derived from Alfa’s 33 racecar. Alfa built just 18 units of the 33 Stradale after its 1967 launch.
Alfa Romeo said this week that it would celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the 4C with a one-off commemorative model. The “Designer’s Cut” project will be customized by Alessandro Maccolini, Alfa Romeo design project manager, Stellantis’ Heritage department said on Wednesday.
The 4C was built on a carbon fiber monocoque with front and rear aluminum subframes, as is the Maserati MC20.
It was unveiled as a concept at the 2011 Geneva auto show. The production 4C was shown at the 2013 Geneva show, and sales started that year. The 4C was sold worldwide and overall production from 2013 to 2020 was less than 10,000 units. Due to its small series homologation, 4C sales were capped to no more than 1,000 units a year in Europe and the U.S.
It was assembled at the same Maserati plant in Modena which now assembles the MC20 and MC20 Cielo.