Remember Alfa before the Giulia Quadrifoglio? The 4C promised much, then underwhelmed; its hatchbacks were either ancient or rubbish or both; and the much-needed SUV seemed to be years away. Then the Giulia arrived and flipped expectations upside down quicker than you can say 'Cloverleaf'. Suddenly there was a fast, exciting, engaging, desirable Alfa Romeo sports saloon again, one that showed the Germans there was another way of doing things. And now we have a GTA version, promising even more of everything that made the Quadrifoglio so very good.
It's a proper GTA, too, in every regard. Paying homage to the 1965 Giulia GTA, this 2020 remake lives up to the 'Alleggerita' part of that name with a 100kg crash diet. So carbon is employed for the bonnet, roof, front bumper and front arches, aluminium for the doors and "various other composite materials have been used for many others parts." That incredible centre-exit exhaust is a titanium Akrapovic item, and the wheels are also new - presumably both to the benefit of the scales.
For the truly committed, Alfa will further celebrate its circuit heritage by offering a Giulia GTAm. Consider it like the Jaguar Project 8 Track Pack, where the rear bench is ditched, a roll over bar dropped in its place and the front seats replaced with carbon buckets and six-point harnesses. The GTAm goes even more extreme than that, in fact, with Lexan window frames, a large front splitter and that enormous carbon rear wing. Kerbweight is claimed at 1,520kg for both cars, the GTAm's additional aero bits over the four-seater presumably offsetting the equipment deletion.
Power for both of the GTA models is identical, too, at 540hp, or 30 more than a Quadrifoglio. Alfa claims the additional power is as a result of the "meticulous development and calibration work of the engineers", which we'd guess means an ECU tickle to release the extra power, though that's no bad thing given how thrilling that twin-turbo V6 already was. There's a 0-62mph time stated of 3.6 seconds, which is damn rapid for a front-engined, rear-drive car. Expect a top speed in the region of the standard car's 190mph.
And then it gets really exciting. The GTAs are all treated to 50mm wider tracks front and rear - 50 millimetres! - as well as new springs, dampers and bushings. Combine that with a Sauber Engineering aerodynamic overhaul and the potential is there for a truly extraordinary driver's car; the Quadrifoglio has already set the bar incredibly high, and all the signs here are for something even better again.
Consequently it looks like Alfa Romeo is celebrating its 110th birthday in the best way possible, by using one of its iconic badges to create what looks like being one of 2020's most exciting cars. They really are building it, too, with a 500-car run between GTA and GTAm models planned, albeit without any word on price just yet. Given how many similarities there are between this Alfa and the aforementioned Jaguar - ruthless track focus, two- and four-seat configurations, monumental performance - let's assume that it will be around that car's £150,000 asking price. And let's also assume that all these GTA and GTAms will sell to eager customers pretty damn quickly. How could they not? Alfa reckons it'll be a "veritable supercar for everyday use", but, if anything, this is a sports saloon to make most supercars look stale. More news when we have it.
1 / 13