There are desirable cars and there’s the 8C Competizione – but Alfa Romeo’s designers have surpassed themselves with this dramatic soft-top version of their want-one supercar.

Boasting a folding fabric roof, the Spider is identical to the coupe model under the skin with a Maserati-sourced 4.7-litre V8, which sends 450bhp to the rear wheels through a six-speed paddle-shift gearbox.

Despite being ever-so-slightly heavier than its fixed-roof sibling, it should be just as fast with 0- 60mph in 4.2 seconds and a top speed of 180mph. Like the hard-top, there’ll only be a limited run of models – just 500 in fact.

Sales start this summer with a price tag of £150,000.