The Geneva Motor Show should have been the stage on which Alfa Romeo would reintroduce the return of a well-known abbreviation, but the cancellation of the Swiss car fair cannot have the news fun at Alfa Romeo. This is namely the Giulia GTA!
The legendary designation ‘GTA’ returns on a car with the same name as the car on which Alfa Romeo presented the three-letter combination in 1965: the Giulia. The abbreviation, which stands for Gran Turismo Alleggerita, whereby the latter word can be translated into ‘lightweight’, was applied in a relatively recent past to very strong versions of both the 156 and the 147. The Mito also had a GTA variant should appear, but due to the economic crisis it remained the concept car presented in 2009. 2020 is the year in which the Italians officially draw the designation from the mothballs. This is the Giulia GTA!
The Giulia GTA is an extra heavy version of the already modest motorized Giulia Q tackled by Alfa Romeo’s racing division Autodelta. a machine that now does not generate 510 HP, but no less than 540 HP. Alfa Romeo increases the track width on both front and back of the Giulia by 5 centimeters and of course also adjusts the suspension. The Italians speak of the arrival of new springs and adapted dampers.
The car was developed according to the same recipe as the primal GTA and that means: more power, improved aerodynamics in combination with a lower car weight. The Giulia GTA benefits from the knowledge of F1 racing team Alfa Romeo Racing (formerly Sauber). The car is equipped with the Sauber Aerokit, a body kit that includes special side skirts, another rear spoiler and an active splitter at the bottom of the front bumper. Under the Giulia GTA hangs an exhaust system from Akrapovič, a specimen that flows into the center of the buttock in the middle of a diffuser made of carbon fiber. The Giulia GTA stands on 20-inch light metal with a central wheel nut, something that we have not seen before under a street-legal sedan.
The GTA puts 1.520 kilos in the dish. That is about 100 kilos less than the regular Giulia Q reads on the scales. This weight saving has been achieved, among other things, by manufacturing things like the drive shaft, bonnet, roof, front bumper, front and rear screens and parts of the seats from carbon fiber. In addition, Alfa Romeo uses aluminum parts in the suspension and uses composites for things like window styles. Each horsepower only needs to move 2.82 pounds. With a Launch Control, a sprint from a standstill to a speed of 100 km / h can be achieved in 3.6 seconds. The regular Giulia’s Q take 3.9 counts for the same sprint.
Of course Alfa Romeo and Autodelta also take care of the interior of the Giulia. The dashboard, the door panels, the pillars, seats and even the glove compartment are covered with Alcantara.
GTAm
It does not stop at the Giulia GTA, because Alfa Romeo also fires the Giulia GTAm through its digital channels on car land. This extra intense variant is described by its creators as a “[…] 100 percent street legal racing version “of the GTA. This variant has to do without a rear seat and beautifully finished door panels, but it does have a roll cage and two racing seats with six-point seat belts. The place where the rear seat is normally covered is completely covered with Alcantara. This more extreme variant benefits from a larger splitter at the bottom of the front bumper and a rear wing made entirely of carbon fiber, and the Giulia GTAm is fitted with a set of wheel arch spacers.
Those who get greedy from the GTA and GTAm news must act quickly. In total Alfa Rome will only build 500 of them. Information about Dutch prices and an introduction date is not yet available.