Famous Alfa tuner Novitec has on its hands what the company claims is “the most powerful and fastest street legal Alfa Romeo of all time”. They’ve supercharged the 8C’s 4.7-litre V8 engine to achieve 600 hp and 588 Nm, which is a huge jump from the stock 450 hp and 470 Nm. Top speed jumps from 290 km/h to 305 km/h, while the 0-100 km/h sprint is done in just 3.9 seconds, down from 4.2.

The supercharger is driven by a cogged-tooth belt directly from the crankshaft. Maximum boost pressure is limited to 0.37 bar. The mechanical charging system is rounded out by a water-to-air intercooler with dedicated radiator, and by custom injectors. Of course, there’s newly calibrated mapping for injection and ignition.

In addition, the tuner offers a stainless-steel high-performance exhaust system and height-adjustable sport suspension. The former is optional and is comes with an integrated flap system varies the exhaust note depending on engine speed. The coil-over suspension allows the driver to select ride height and damper rates.

Available as Coupe or Spider, the sexy good looks of the 8C is untouched. But Novitec does replace the standard rims with three-piece NA3 wheels, 21 inches in front and 22 inches at the back, shod with Pirelli rubber.

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Alfa Romeo has released details of the revised MiTo, which gets new engines for 2011 as well as a more streamlined and focused range of versions – nine as opposed to 17 previously.

The sports compact now comes in Sprint form (which replaces both Turismo and Lusso trim levels) as well as Distinctive and Quadrifoglio Verde versions (which replace Veloce and Cloverleaf). At the entry-level point, the car comes in Progression guise.

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Specifications are up, and prices are down, always a good thing. In terms of enhanced specification, Distinctive (formerly Veloce) and Quadrifoglio Verde (Cloverleaf) feature additional equipment, including cruise control, sports pedals and rear parking sensors.

Three new engines find their way on to the car – a 1.4 8v 78 hp unit (available in Progression and Sprint, replacing the 1.4 16v 95 hp unit) with Start&Stop as standard, a 1.4 MultiAir 105 hp available with Sprint or Distinctive trims and a 1.3 JTDM-2 85 hp mill that’s available for the Sprint only.

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The trio join the 135 hp and 170 hp versions of the 1.4 TB MultiAir as well as the 120 hp 1.6 JTDM-2 in the lineup, bringing the number of engine options available for the car to six.

There’s also a new colour for the car, and this is the Metal Bronze shade that was previewed in Geneva earlier this year – on Progression and Sprint versions, the MiTo can also be chosen with new Sprint Bronze upholstery.

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To keep things fresh and kicking, Alfa Romeo has dressed up the interior of its 159 sedan for 2011, as well as introduced a new engine variant into the lineup – the new motor is a 136 hp 2.0 JTDM unit. The Euro 5, variable geometry turbocharger-equipped diesel block offers 350 Nm of torque from as low as 1,750 rpm.

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Interior-wise, the 159 now features new sports cloth upholstery or sports leather in black or natural, depending on the trim level chosen (there are three – Turismo, Lusso and the sporty TI). Elsewhere, the cabin gets dressed up with elegant chrome-plated three-layer treatment or brush black aluminium inserts on the dashboard, on the mouldings and on the central console.

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Bagging a TI variant not only gets you the sport bits, all replete in black and aluminium, new carbon fibre inserts on the central console and steering wheel may be ordered as optional items to complete the sport theme.

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UPDATE: Interior pic added after the jump.

Beautiful, isn’t it? This is the 4C Concept, a “compact supercar” according to Alfa Romeo. It’s clear that this 4C is the younger sibling of Alfa’s 8C Competizione, both in name and styling. However, the 4C isn’t a front engined, rear driven car like its bigger brother – it has a mid-engine, RWD layout.

Well, if the 8C has a V8 then the 4C would have a four-cylinder, so the 4C Concept is motivated by Alfa’s 1750 turbo petrol engine as found in the range topping Giulietta. It’s a direct injection, dual CVVT engine that features a revolutionary scavenging control system which eliminates turbo lag. In the hatchback, this unit produces 235 PS and 340 Nm. Coupled with the just launched Alfa TCT dry twin-clutch transmission, the 4C Concept does 0-100 km/h in under five seconds. Top speed is above 250 km/h.

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The 4C Concept was developed to be lightweight, so it uses carbon extensively. The chassis supports a body crafted completely from carbon, while the rear frame structure and crash boxes are from aluminium. Final weight is “less than 850 kg” and weight/power ratio is lower than 4 kg/hp. Weight distribution is 40:60. The 4C has Alfa’s DNA selector, which controls the car’s throttle, steering and suspension.

Size wise, the 4C is about four metres long and has a wheelbase of less than 2.4 metres. This means that it’s a very compact sports car – a Porsche Cayman is 4,347 mm long with a wheelbase of 2,415 mm.

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The best news is that the 4C will make it to production. Alfa Romeo says that it will go on sale next year! Pic of the cabin is after the jump.
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Volkswagen’s Ferdinand Piech takes another shot at Alfa Romeo’s current owners Fiat/Chrysler, claiming that Volkswagen could turn around Alfa Romeo and increase sales of the Italian brand up to 400,000 cars a year within 5 years, which is almost quadruple of what the brand is currently doing – about 112,000 cars.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has stated repeatedly that the group would not sell Alfa Romeo anytime soon, even going on to say that as long as he is the CEO of Chrysler and Fiat, Mr. Piech will never have Alfa Romeo.

Such is the allure of the sexy Alfa Romeo brand, that these two bosses seem to treat the ownership of the brand as some kind of status symbol. Alfa Romeo certainly isn’t a profitable brand under Fiat, and in fact Marchionne claims Alfa had always been a money loser in the 7 years he has been at the company, even going as far to say that he wasn’t sure if Alfa Romeo ever really made any money.

On the matter of the sale to Volkswagen, he suggested the German car manufacturer group concentrate on fixing Spanish brand Seat first. Why does Alfa Romeo struggle to sell as many cars as it should, despite having good designs and brand image? Who knows, perhaps with reliable Volkswagen underpinnings it could really do much better than it currently is. The idea of an Alfa Romeo is certainly sexier than a Seat.

Designed to offer the best of both manual and automatic worlds, the Selespeed robotized manual transmission by Alfa Romeo wasn’t as perfect as it could have been. The Magneti Marelli developed gearbox, which made its debut in the Alfa 156 back in 1999, is clunky when left in D and requires some footwork for seamless progress in manual, although it can be quite fun in the right mood. VW’s introduction of the double-clutch DSG left Selespeed with nowhere to hide.

Well, Alfa Romeo has finally pensioned off the Selespeed, replacing it with a 6-speed dry twin clutch gearbox called the TCT. The compact MiTo will be the first to get TCT, which will be partnered with the 1.4 TB MultiAir 135 bhp petrol engine with Start&Stop. Now available in RHD in the UK, the TCT MiTo does 13.7 km/l over an urban cycle, 128 g/km of CO2 and 8.2 seconds from 0-100 km/h, compared to the manual’s 13.5 km/l, 129 g/km and 8.4 seconds.

Developed by Fiat Powertrain Technologies, TCT can modify the speed of gear shift, manage torque delivery (on low grip roads for instance), operate completely automatically or as a manual sequential gearbox, and adopt a usage profile which focuses on reducing fuel consumption.

The TCT is also a compact unit, and more efficient because it’s of the dry type, which means that the clutches aren’t bathed in oil, which introduce viscous friction. The 7-speed DSG on the VW Polo and Golf TSI are also dry clutch ‘boxes, and they’re typically suited to lower torque applications.