Mazda/Alfa joint roadster vanishes; new Alfa Spider still coming

Fiat could replace Alfa in new Abarth collaboration

    The next Alfa Romeo Spider will not be based on the new Mazda MX-5, according to CAR Magazine. That’s a reversal, of course, after we heard that the two companies would pool resources on a future roadster in 2012.

    Harald Wester, the brand chief of both Alfa Romeo and Maserati, told CAR, “As far as the Spider goes, the final version is, of course, no longer the two-seater FCA co-developed with Mazda, but a derivative of project Giorgio.”

    Giorgio is the in-house codename for Alfa’s new rear-wheel drive platform, which will be the basis of the new Spider.

    Part of the problem is that Alfa has been mandated by CEO Sergio Marchionne to only build cars in Italy, which makes Mazda’s plan to produce the MX-5 in Hiroshima, Japan, a nonstarter.

The Italian-Japanese partnership will continue, according to Wester, probably on a Fiat-Abarth product, maybe even a standalone Abarth sports car.

That’s a lot of talk; fortunately all we can hear is more Italian roadsters for us.