Alfa Romeo has had more false dawns – and chief executives – than I’ve had fettuccine alfredo. Try as it might, it has largely failed to shake off an image of too often disappointing the world’s still large, but declining, community of Alfisti enthusiasts.

Most of its cars are gorgeous to look at. The Brera coupé and Spider convertible, and the 159 saloon, can claim to have the most flair and style of any models in their sectors. But they have often been curiously uninspiring to drive, with little of the brio suggested by their catwalk clothing. Build quality and dealer standards have also been the subject of regular motoring press criticism. Thus world sales volumes have regularly fallen well short of target. The figure of 250,000 cars a year that Alfa says it needs to sell for a viable future has remained out of reach. Last year, as markets collapsed for all carmakers under the impact of the credit crisis, only 104,000 Alfas found buyers.

This might be about to change. By the end of September, says Sergio Cravero, CEO of six months’ standing, a strategy capable of transforming Alfa Romeo’s prospects should be in place. At that point, Cravero and other senior Fiat group executives, led by group chief executive Sergio Marchionne, should have explored how best to reap benefits from Fiat’s new alliance with Chrysler.

For Alfa Romeo, that should mean, after many years’ absence from the world’s most valuable luxury car market, a return to north America via Chrysler’s dealer network. The potential to spread costs should lead to lower break-even volumes for Alfa. “There is the prospect now of dreams becoming reality,” Cravero says.

Part of the dream is already parked a few feet from where he is speaking. Lithe, low-slung but impressive in its road presence, the new 8C Spider is intended as proof in metal that Alfa Romeo can still challenge the world’s best. After some time spent banging it around an Italian circuit, my conclusion is that the 8C does not make a bad job of the challenge. However, at an eye-watering price of £174,000 – £30,000 more than the Ferrari 430 Scuderia Spider – so it should.

Given Alfa’s troubled past and the availability of cheaper rivals, such as Aston Martin’s similar-performing £91,000 V8 Vantage convertible, it might seem reasonable to ask whether Alfa can make a sales success of such an expensive car. But in fact, Cravero says, Alfa has pre-sold every 8C convertible it intends to make; all 500 of them. And the company has already sold all 500 of the coupé version, the Competizione: the 8C was greatly admired when it was unveiled in concept form at the 2003 Frankfurt motor show.

Why test a car for which all the buyers have already been found? Because it should show what Alfa might be capable of if such standards of engineering trickle down into the more everyday models of its range. Both 8C models share engineering elements with the Maseratis in Fiat’s luxury sporting car division.

Something else on the test track, which may have even more relevance to Alfa’s future, impressed me at least as much as the 8C. It was a Brera, Alfa’s achingly good-looking, Audi TT-rivalling £25,000 coupé. The Brera was first launched two years ago – to disappointment, because its engines were lacklustre and the four-wheel-drive system on the flagship 3.2 litre V6 dulled its responses.

But the engine installed in the Brera I drove on the test track was an all-new unit Fiat has developed and which has just been introduced in the 159 saloon and sportswagon range. Had the Brera’s original launch included this engine it would, I am certain, have been met with enthusiastic acclaim. It is as refined as you could wish and its clever fuel-induction design allows the turbocharger to work much more efficiently.

But back to the 8C Spider and what it says about Alfa. The most obvious point is that when it comes to graceful aesthetics, Alfa needs lessons from no one. The frontal styling renders it instantly recognisable as an Alfa Romeo, with the hallmark inverted triangle nose leading back, via a sinuous array of curves, to one of the most elegant rear ends ever to be styled for a “supercar” convertible. The standard is kept up well in the interior, a harmonious blend of carbon fibre, leather and brushed aluminium. Special praise, too, for the seats: ultra-thin creations of carbon-fibre clad with leather, less than half the weight and size of most rivals. They make a small but worthwhile contribution to the 8C’s relatively low weight of 1,590 kilos.

There are, however, some quirks. I suspect that even Ryanair’s hand baggage measuring box offers more room than the 8C’s boot. No, it really is that small – a tiny recess in the rear floor which would struggle to hold anything beyond a case of chianti.

Press the start button, however, and such considerations slip to the back of the mind. For what ensues from the 450-horsepower, 4.7 litre V8 sourced and tweaked from Maserati is sheer automotive Pavarotti – “Nessun Dorma” as rendered by quadruple exhaust pipes. It is aural addiction; you find yourself ranging up and down the gears not out of need but for the sheer hell of it. A 50-50 front to rear weight distribution (engine in front, gearbox at rear), racing car-style double wishbone suspension and Formula One-style ceramic brakes also give the Spider a pleasing agility out on the track.

A long-awaited standard-setter from Alfa Romeo, then? Well, not quite. Many rivals are faster – and cheaper – some by a considerable margin. Others have more precise and well-judged steering. Yet to write out a £174,000 cheque for this car is to set aside all conventional measures of value. I’m glad that there are 1,000 very well-heeled enthusiasts out there willing to write them, and thus make the 8C adventure possible. The Alfa Romeo brand is in need of a “halo” car. And the 8C’s looks extremely unlikely to slip.

...............................

The details

Big money Spider

How much
£174,000

How fast
0-62mph 4.5 secs, top speed 182mph

How thirsty
17.3mpg on EU urban/rural test cycle

How green
379g C02/km

Also consider
Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster £91,000; Bentley GTC £136,000; Ferrari F430 Spider £145,000