Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA debuts – steroidal Quadrifoglio gets 2.9L biturbo V6, 540 hp; limited to 500 units only!

After being teased yesterday, the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA is finally out of the bag, and it’s created to celebrate the company’s 110th anniversary come June this year. The flagship Giulia also harks back to the original 1965 model as a tribute to one of the automaker’s most emblematic cars ever made.

Now, the Giulia GTA (short for Gran Turismo Alleggerita) is based on the existing Quadrifoglio model, and is available in two versions – Giulia GTA and Giulia GTAm. The former is a regular four-seater car, but the GTAm is the more hardcore version (and still road legal) with two race bucket seats, roll-bar and six-point harness. Both models, however, share the same 2.9 litre biturbo V6 petrol engine that makes 540 hp.

That figure is merely 30 hp more than the Giulia Quadrifoglio, but thanks to weight reduction, the GTAm does the 0-100 km/h sprint in 3.6 seconds, or 0.3 seconds quicker than the Quadrifoglio. Also, this can be consistently achieved via the Launch Control system. The automaker has yet to release the full technical specifications, so for now it’s unclear if the torque figures have been raised from the Quadrifoglio’s 600 Nm mark.

To shed weight, the GTAm employs lightweight carbon-fibre for the driveshaft, bonnet, roof, front bumper, front wheel arches, rear overfenders, and the sport seats’ shell. Meanwhile, the doors are now made from aluminium, as well as some parts of the engine and suspension.

It also gets full polycarbonate windows that apparently came straight from the world of motorsport, and the bucket seats get a six-point Sabelt seat belt harness. All in, the GTAm weighs just 1,520 kg, which equates to a power-to-weight ratio of 2.82 kg per horsepower. Other notable additions include a front splitter and huge carbon-fibre rear wing.

The less aggressive GTA trim features the same output, but with four seats, no rear roll-bar, a more subdued carbon-fibre rear spoiler, and rear splitter optimised for daily use. It shares the same door panels, seats and windows as the Giulia Quadrifoglio, but Alfa Romeo says the GTA is still a “veritable supercar for everyday use.” Considering that it has 540 hp on tap, we won’t argue with that.

There’s also active aerodynamics at play, and part of the aero work came directly from Formula 1 via Sauber Engineering. This applies to the active front splitters, side skirts, and rear spoiler. A titanium Akrapovi? exhaust system is integrated into the rear CF diffuser.

Design-wise, both cars look mega aggressive with huge front intakes, and they both sit on new 20-inch centre-locking wheels. The front and rear wheel tracks have been widened by 50 mm, and the suspension gets upgraded with a new set of springs, dampers, and bushings. Other niceties include extensive use of Alcantara, which is found on the dashboard, door panels, glove compartment, side pillars, and the seats.

In the GTAm, there’s even more Alcantara – the rear space features a fully upholstered ‘basin’ in place of the rear seats, with specific mouldings designed to hold helmets and a fire extinguisher. Matte carbon-fibre inserts and fabric door pulls finish up the racey interior.

Now, just 500 units of the duo will be made, all of which are numbered and certified. Alfa Romeo will also be treating all 500 owners of the GTA and GTAm to a personalised experience package, which comes with a Bell helmet in special GTA livery, a full racing set by Alpinestars (race suit, gloves and shoes) and a personalised Goodwool car cover for protecting their GTA or GTAm. Customers can also take part in a specific driving course devised by the Alfa Romeo Driving Academy.

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