Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale supercar sold to mystery Australian buyer

A mysterious Australian buyer has reportedly signed up for an Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale – a limited-edition supercar available with petrol or electric power, of which only 33 will be built worldwide – even though the vehicle cannot be legally driven on local roads because it is left-hand-drive only.

As previously reported, the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is a modern reboot of the original 1967 33 Stradale, which was the road-going version of the Tipo 33 race car of the day, and considered one of Alfa Romeo’s most iconic models.

All 33 hand-built examples of the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale – which are certain to become future classics given their exclusivity – sold out before it was even unveiled last month, despite a price tag expected to eclipse $AU3 million according to estimates by overseas media outlets.

The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale shares its DNA – and core carbon-fibre structure and twin-turbo 2.9-litre V6 engine – with the Maserati MC20 supercar, but it will also be available with the option of electric power.

The global head of product for Alfa Romeo, Daniel Guzzafame, told an online conference call with Australian media this week at least one example had been purchased by an Australian collector for an undisclosed sum, and there were also customers from other right-hand-drive countries such as Japan and the UK.

"We have one customer from Australia, we have customers from Japan, the UK, (even though) the vehicle is left-hand-drive," said Mr Guzzafame.

When asked for a clue about the identity of the mystery buyer, the Alfa Romeo executive said: "No, we cannot, but thanks for asking."

Transport magnate Lindsay Fox is known to have a vast collection of ultra-rare exotic vehicles, however it is not known if he is an Alfa Romeo enthusiast.

When asked for an official estimate on the price of the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, Mr Guzzafame said: "We are not speaking about prices, but it's also because of the fact that each car is very unique, very customised."

The executive said the price of each car varies according to the level of personalisation of each vehicle.

"Customers can ask whatever (they want), but we have a committee, which is including our museum director (and) our CEO, where we approve or not the request from the customer," said Mr Guzzafame.

"For instance if ... we get a request to have a pink car that will not be approved, because it's not consistent with what we want.

"We selected the customers (for) the way that they use the car, not people that keep their cars in a garage segregated and nobody will see them.

"The idea is (the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale) should be made accessible to many (to view at car shows). That was one of the criteria for the selections of the customers.

"As a consequence ... people who want to have their car participating in the Alfa Romeo life and possibly history, I must say that not many of those strange requests have come, but on a few we had to reject."

When asked for an estimate on the demand for petrol versus electric power among the 33 customers who have signed up for a car, Mr Guzzafame said:

"For now, we are let's say 80/20: 80 per cent (petrol) and 20 per cent (electric).

"Customers have still basically one year to decide. We are seeing an interesting shift towards the electric (version).

"When we started (the ordering process) there was one electric car, and then as the months passed ... we had three customers say 'we want to change' (from petrol to electric).

"We are not yet finalised counting ... but my guess is that we will land at around 70/30 spilt (from petrol to electric). They still have some time to decide."

When asked if buyers who choose the electric version will need to pay more than buyers of the petrol version of the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, the executive said:

"No, no, no. It's the same. The base was set at the same price, so no difference in that."

The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale is due to go into production late next year, with the first customer deliveries due to follow soon after.