I first fell in love with the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione when I saw it up close and personal at last year’s Motor4Toys Exotic Car Show. The company is now releasing an even more breathtaking Spider convertible that will arrive on our shores starting January of 2010. There will only be 500 units of the Alfa Romeo 8C Spider produced, just like it’s hardtop brethren. However, an even scarcer 35 are scheduled for the US with a manufacturers’ cost of $299,000 (which includes shipping). This price makes the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione Spider the company’s most expensive model to date. That said, you can be sure that real world prices for this car will probably clip north of $500,000.

The 8C Spider will be built in Modena, Italy with many of its parts sourced from Ferrari and the Maserati GranTurismo. A 4.7-liter V8 engine capable of 450 hp at 7,000 is mated with an automatic 6-speed gearbox with paddle-shifters mounted behind the steering wheel. Stopping power comes via racing-inspired carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes.

This is a tremendous platform for Alfa Romeo and, as such, it looks like the company will seek to push the envelope a bit further. The Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione hardtop is going to be repackaged in a high-performance GTA version sometime next year. There will only be 100 examples of this car produced. However, there is some speculation that the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione Spider may also get released as a GTA version as well somewhere down the line. We’ll keep you posted…

Source: Alfa Romeo