Conventional wisdom holds that if you want to take on Porsche's 911, you need a convertible variant. And although Alfa Romeo's often marched to the beat of a wonderfully idiosyncratic drummer, it sounds as if it's hewing to general sporting-car rules of thumb with the 4C.

According to a report in Britain's Autocar, sources have confirmed that a 4C convertible will follow the launch of the coupe by about a year. Alfa's hoping the carbon-intensive, ultraleggera 4C, with a target weight of less than a ton, will appeal to those who subscribe to Chapmanian values of motoring excellence through reduced mass and, you know, people who just like Italian gadgetry but can't afford a 458.

Though Alfa CEO Harald Wester stated more than a year ago that we'd see production of the mid-engined sportster begin late in 2012, it looks now as if the 4C will hit showrooms in early 2014, with the convertible following a year later.

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