One of the most hotly anticipated to come out of Italy, or rather Japan, over the next two years is the new Alfa Romeo Spider. The car, as you may know, will be based on the next-generation Mazda MX-5 chassis, but it will get Alfa’s own styling and engines.

Sounds like quite a recipe. A sports car built by the Japanese, so it’ll last forever, on the MX-5 chassis, which means it will be a joy to drive, and with Italian design. Latest reports fro sources close to Alfa suggest the design of the new Spider will be inspired heavily by the recently launched Alfa 4C Sports Coupe. In fact, every new car in Aston’s range will be affected in one way or other by the 4C.

In the case of the Spider, the car will get a similar front-end to the 4C minus those weird headlights. It will get normal clear headlights because it needs to have mass appeal. Around at the back it gets round taillights, again like the 4C and the MiTo. Size-wise, the Spider will be a tad longer and wider than the MX-5 because of Alfa’s styling. They will share the same wheelbase and interior space.

Speaking of things that the Spider will share with the MX-5, the list includes windscreens, windscreen structure, front bulkhead, engine compartments and front and rear axles. It also will get the same chassis and suspension settings as the Japanese car, and the same rear-drive setup. For the engines though, Alfa prefers to use their own 1.4 liter MultiAir turbo petrol unit with 170 horsepower.

Expect to see the new Mazda MX-5 in early 2015, with Alfa Spider to follow in the second quarter.

via Autocar – Pictures: above Alfa 8C Spider, below Alfa Duettotanta Concept