Alfa Romeo Debuts 540 Horsepower Giulia GTA & GTAm!
Only 500 Units Total Being Built...
The Alfa Romeo has pulled the covers of off the brand’s latest performance entries, the Giulia GTA (Gran Turismo Alleggerita) and the Giulia GTAm. MoparInsiders original broke details about the upcoming GTA performance sedan a few months back and while the power numbers were off, the new high-performance Alfa Romeo sedan doesn’t disappoint. So let’s take a deeper look, at the news pair of sedans from the Italian performance brand.
To start, it’s first important to get to know the story behind the Giulia GTA. In 1965, Alfa Romeo launched the Giulia Sprint GTA, a high-performance version of the Sprint GT. The body of the Giulia Sprint GT was replaced with a replica body made from aluminum, which cut the weight of the car from 2,094 lbs. to 1,642 lbs., a total of 452 lbs. Alfa Romeo engineers equipped the car with a second-variation of its 1.6-liter twin-cam engine. Autodelta (the official name for the Alfa Romeo racing team at the time) was able to get a whopping 170 horsepower out of the little engine (55 horsepower more than the road car version). The team entered the car over the next several years in multiple races and Touring car champions, where it won three consecutive “Challenge Europeo Marche”, tens of national championships and hundreds of individual races in every part of the world.
Fast forward to today, and the Alfa Romeo brand was really looking for something special to celebrate the brand’s 110th anniversary. Since the relaunch of the Giulia nameplate on the current Giulia sedan, Alfa fans have been asking about a modern-day variant of the GTA and the Italian performance brand decided that 2020, was indeed the year for the nameplate to return.
Following the same guidelines that were followed for the 1965 Giulia GTA, Alfa Romeo engineers strove to improve aerodynamics and handling but above all to reduce weight. These solutions contain a lot of technical know-how thanks to the work of Alfa Romeo and Sauber Engineering, who both operate the Formula 1 Alfa Romeo Racing team together. A new Sauber Areokit was designed for the Giulia GTA with active aerodynamics for added downforce. The Areokit includes an aggressive new front fascia, side skirts, active front splitter, new rear spoiler, as well as a new carbon-fiber rear diffuser with twin-titanium mounted center exhaust and tells you that this isn’t your typical Giulia sedan.
If that isn’t enough for you, the GTAm (modified) variant is an extreme 100 percent “street legal” version of the GTA, characterized by two racing seats, roll bar, and Sabelt 6-point safety belts. With a front splitter and larger visible rear wing in carbon, the GTAm is the ultimate expression of sportiness.
In the GTA version, with the same power, Giulia offers four seats, no rear roll-bar; spoiler and splitter optimized for daily use on the road; the same door panels, seats and windows as those of the Giulia Quadrifoglio. The result is a veritable supercar for everyday use.
Handling has been massively improved on the Giulia GTA by widening the front and rear wheel tracks by 50mm. A new set of springs, shock absorbers, and bushings for the suspension have been created to provide massive amounts of grip. Stopping power is improved thanks to a massive set of carbon-ceramic Brembo brakes, while for the first time on a sedan are a set of lightweight 20-inch aluminum wheels with center-locks.
The GTA will continue the wear the Quadrifoglio badge on the front quarter-panels, while the lower front quarter-panels wear a replica of the original Autodelta badge.
Under the hood, the aluminum 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6 returns and gets a 30 horsepower boost to 540 horsepower for GTA duty. Alfa Romeo engineers also worked with Akrapovič (maker of the new titanium exhaust) to give the GTA its own distinctive sound. With a weight reduction of 221 pounds (100 kilograms) compared to the standard Giulia Quadrifoglio and the horsepower boost from its tuned motor, the GTA can hit 62 mph (or 100 kph) in just 3.6-seconds. That’s about the same time as the much heavier and more power 2020 Dodge Charger SRT HELLCAT Widebody. It lets the GTA achieve a best-in-class weight/power ratio of 6.2 lb/hp.
Additional lightweight components such as carbon-fiber for the driveshaft, hood, roof, front bumper, front wheel arches, rear wheel arch inserts and, on the GTAm, the shell of the specific sporting seats with 6-point Sabelt safety belts help keep the weight of the mid-size sedan down.
Inside the car, several new details stand out at you. The first is the trim of the dashboard, door panels, glove compartment, side pillars, and the central trim on the seats are done in 100% Alcantara®. If you jump into a more track-oriented GTAm, Alcantara is used more extensively. Taken a note from the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, the GTAm rear moves the rear bench seat, leaving room for a fully Alcantara upholstered “basin” which is made to hold your racing helmet and a fire extinguisher. The new matte carbon inserts endow the interior with a distinctive technical and aesthetic elegance. In the new GTAm, the interior is unique in that it features a roll bar, no door panels or rear seats and the door is opened with a belt in place of the handle, another touch that comes from the racing world.
The Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA and GTAm, will be built in a limited-edition series of just 500 units total. The cars will all be numbered and certified and will join the original 1965 Giulia Sprint GTA as one of the most sought-after Alfa Romeo collector’s cars. The cars are immediately available for ordering at AlfaRomeo.com. However, once the 500th car is ordered, Alfa Romeo will close the ordering process. Those who order the car will go through the sales process one-on-one with an Alfa Romeo ambassador product specialist who will give insight from order to the delivery process.
But the ownership experience doesn’t stop there, Alfa Romeo will provide a personalized experience package kit, which includes a Bell helmet in special GTA livery, a full racing set by Alpinestars (race suit, gloves, and shoes) and a personalized Goodwool car cover for protecting his or her GTA or GTAm. In addition to other equipment for true enthusiasts, the Alfa Romeo customer experience also includes a specific driving course devised by the Alfa Romeo Driving Academy.
2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA & GTAm Image Gallery:
