Alfa revs up changes to Giulia and Stelvio

As a carmaker for the past 111 years, Alfa Romeo has built more than just a reputation; this transcending rather to a mystique warmly embraced by millions of ‘Alfisti’ around the world. 

It has not always been plain sailing for the Italian carmaker but some really lean years were broken six years ago with the launch of the Giulia and Stelvio that have become the brand’s most-awarded cars ever: 170 international accolades awarded by specialised and general media, voted by juries of experts or directly by customers, dedicated to both innovation and style.

Now the two models have been updated  and the interiors of both cars have been freshened, connectivity has become a key focus thanks to the 8,8-inch touch-screen infotainment system and smartphone-like ease of use and enables a suite of Mopar services for remote car management. 

 

The updated Giulia embodies Alfa Romeo legend: cutting-edge and innovative engines; ideal weight distribution; technical solutions; excellent power-to-weight ratio and, of course, a design with unmistakable Italian flair.

 

The front suspension has double wishbones with semi-virtual steering, to make the suspension angle more controllable and obtain optimal road grip: the two lower links create a ‘scissor’ movement that generates a linear feeling in all conditions. The new Alfalink is introduced on the rear suspension, a multi-link system with four-and-a-half links: rigid when cornering, but also longitudinally flexible. Both these solutions are ‘made in Alfa Romeo’.

 

Giulia's all-aluminium engines remain the same, but are now Euro 6b-final compliant. The 2,0-litre turbo-charged power units offer 206 kW and fuel consumption of 8,4 l/100km on the combined cycle. Power is transferred to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission and carbon-fibre drive shaft for exhilarating performance.

 

The sports sedan – the Giulia QV – also receives model-year updates and its 375 kW bi-turbo V6 engine catapults the Giulia up the road to 100 km/h in 3,9 seconds and on to a top speed of 307 km/h. 

The Giulia QV is equipped with the Alfa Chassis Domain Control unit and Alfa Active Suspension, the system that continually, actively controls the suspensions and shock absorbers. Up front it has a double wishbone system with semi-virtual steering axis, with a four-and-a-half link Multilink system at the rear. 

The centre of the dashboard is dominated by the Alfa Connect 3D NAV 8,8-inch infotainment system. The system offers Apple CarPlay as well as being Android Auto compatible, bringing the best of Google into the car.

 

Sharing the Giulia’s dynamic platform, Alfa Romeo’s first SUV has a 50/50 weight distribution, Alfa Romeo Q4 all-wheel drive architecture, best-in-class power-to-weight ratios and innovative engine and driver technologies.

 

The Stelvio features Alfa Romeo’s segment-first Integrated Brake System, Autonomous Emergency Brake with pedestrian detection, Blind Spot Monitoring, Forward Collision Warning, and Lane Departure Warning.

 

The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Super is powered by an all-aluminium four-cylinder 206 kW 2,0-litre turbo-charged petrol engine with carbon fibre drive shart, combined with the automatic eight-speed transmission.

 

In addition to MultiAir electro-hydraulic valve actuation, the distinctive features of this engine include ‘2-in-1’ turbo and 200-bar high-pressure direct injection, which pair up to deliver a particularly snappy accelerator response across the rev range in addition to best-in-class fuel-efficiency. The Stelvio Super has a top speed of 233 km/h and accelerates from 0-100 km/h in 7,2 seconds. 

Stelvio Quadrifoglio is equipped with the exclusive aluminium 2,9-litre V6 Bi-Turbo petrol engine, developed with inputs from Ferrari, which delivers maximum power of 375 kW at 6 500 r/min and generates a maximum torque of 600 Nm from 2 500 r/min to 5 000 r/min. 

This power plant is teamed with the specifically calibrated eight-speed automatic transmission that allows gear shifts in just 150 milliseconds in Race driving mode.It accelerates from zero to 100 km/h in just 3,8 seconds and on to a top speed of 283 km/h.

 

Further additions to the Giulia include rear USB ports, a cargo net, passive entry, a wireless charging pad, and eight-way electrically adjustable seats with driver memory and four-way lumbar support adjustment.

 

Stelvio enjoys a new Driver Assistance Pack including automatic high-beam assist, Active Blind Spot Assist, Outside and Interior rearview mirrors with electrochromic auto dimming, Lane Keeping Assist and Driver Attention Alert. The SUV also shares the upgrades from the Giulia range.

 

The new Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio comes with a 5 year/100 000km full warranty and maintenance plan as standard. Be seduced.

 

Pricing:

Alfa Romeo Giulia Veloce: R 989,900.00

Alfa Romeo Giulia QV: R 1,599,900.00

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Super: R 1,159,900.00

Alfa Romeo Stelvio Q: R 1,749,900.00

 Alfa legends return

When it comes to car fans it is hard to top the ‘Alfisti’ for sheer brand loyalty and fervour – and they all should be ‘shivering with antici. . . . . . .pation’ right now, awaiting the arrival of a few of the extremely limited production Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA and GTAm headed to South African shores. 

Just 500 numbered cars are being built by Alfa Romeo and South Africa’s proud Alfa Romeo legacy and competition association with the nameplate has secured a very limited allocation. The order book is officially open and fortunate owners will not only acquire a legendary performance car, but an equally tasty experience and package of accessories with it. 

The acronym GTA stands for ‘Gran Turismo Alleggerita’ (alleggerita being the Italian term for ‘lightened’), and it originated in 1965 with the Giulia Sprint GTA, a very special model based on the Giulia Sprint GT, designed as a sports car and presented at the Amsterdam Motor Show staged that same year. 

The body of the Giulia Sprint GT was replaced with an identical version in aluminium, for a total weight of 745 kg compared to the 950 kg of the road version. A second, but significant variation concerned the 1570 cc twin cam engine which, in standard road configuration, with dual ignition, reached an impressive output of 86 kW.

 

The technicians at Autodelta, the official Alfa Romeo racing team, chose it as the reference vehicle for the Touring category and developed it to achieve a maximum output of 127 kW. The model’s competition success was immediate: three consecutive European Touring Car Championships, tens of national championships and hundreds of individual races in every part of the world. 

In South Africa it was largely spearheaded by the original GTA, the first car imported by the Thompson Brothers in 1965 to be driven by Keith Berrington-Smith. 

The right-hand drive 1600 GTA (one of 50 of the first 500 cars) was successfully campaigned and quickly developed. It was soon taken over by Basil van Rooyen’s Superformance and developed further into one of the most iconic touring cars of South Africa’s motor sport of the late 1960s. 

Carrying racing number Y152 (usually) and driven by Arnold Chatz it was one protagonist of the classic Alfa versus Ford battle with Peter Gough’s Meisner Escort, Y151. 

Further modified, including 2,0-litre GTAm engine and wide body, it was ultimately left in Angola after its last competitive race. 

A further 1300 GTA was imported in 1968 by Alderton Motors, then Johannesburg Alfa Romeo agent and campaigned in the ’68 and ’69 Springbok Series and some production car races shared with other legendary drivers, including Paddy Driver and John Conchie. 

Lesser known in GTA circles was a South African developed and marketed model of the Alfasud. The 1983 Alfasud Export GTA featured Alfa’s 1,5-litre flat four engine with 77 kW in the five-door hatch. 

The GTA nameplate would return again to South Africa in the early 2000s when a 156 was locally developed for Production Car racing. It was joined by a full factory onslaught of three genuine Autodelta/N-Technology prepared 147GTA Production Cars, giving BMW a serious run for their money, variously in the hands of Martin Steyn, Reghardt Roets, Morne Jurgens, Marco da Cunha, and Marc Auby. 

Alfa Romeo offered the 156 GTA and 147 GTA on showroom floors, both powered by a 184 kW 3,2-litre V6 engine with six-speed manual gearboxes. 

For the new Giulia GTA, Alfa Romeo engineers have striven to improve aerodynamics and handling, but, above all, to reduce weight: the same guidelines followed for the 1965 Giulia GTA.

 

The active aerodynamics were specifically studied to increase the downforce. These solutions contain technical know-how that comes directly from Formula 1, thanks to the synergy with Sauber Engineering and the use of the Sauber Aerokit. The same task is assigned to the side skirts, the specific rear spoiler and the active front splitter.

The titanium Akrapovič central exhaust system integrated in the carbon fibre rear diffuser is also new, as are the 20-inch centre lock wheels, appearing for the first time on a sedan. The handling at high speeds has been improved by widening the front and rear wheel tracks by 50 mm and developing a new set of springs, shock absorbers and bushings for the suspension systems. 

On GTAm, the aerodynamic front piece has been optimised to an extreme level, by adding a larger front splitter and a real carbon rear wing, which ensure a perfectly balanced load at high speeds. 

In terms of performance, the 2,9-litre V6 Bi-Turbo, made entirely of aluminium and capable of 375 kW in standard trim, reaches a power output of 390 kW on Giulia GTA thanks to calibration work performed by Alfa Romeo engineers.

Inside, the trim is 100% Alcantara on the dashboard, door panels, glove compartment, side pillars and the central trim on the seats. Alcantara is used even more extensively on the GTAm version, where the rear bench has been removed, leaving room for a fully upholstered ‘basin’, hosting specific mouldings deigned to hold helmets and a fire extinguisher. 

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. 

The work done to reduce vehicle weight has been significant and it has reaped particularly impressive results in the GTA. Here the total weight reduction amounts to 100 kg, thanks to the adoption of lightweight materials such as carbon fibre for the drive shaft, hood, roof, front bumper, front wheel arches, rear wheel arch inserts and the shell of the specific sporting seats with 6-point Sabelt safety belts. 

The result is a weight set around 1 580 kg which, combined with the increase in power to 390 kW brings the power/weight ratio to an excellent 246 kW/ton or 4,1 kg/kW, making Giulia GTA capable of delivering extraordinary performance. Its acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h stops the chronometer at just 3,6 seconds thanks to the Launch Control system. 

The Giulia GTAm is the two-seater configuration approved for on-road use, with front splitter and larger visible rear wing in carbon, the ultimate expression of sportiness. In the GTA version, with the same power, Giulia offers four seats, no rear roll-bar; spoiler and splitter optimised 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. 

The sales process will be one-to-one, with a Brand ambassador product specialist following each customer from order to delivery. But the buying experience doesn’t stop at the dedicated sales process. Indeed, the new owners will also receive 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 personalised Goodwool car cover for protecting his or her GTA or GTAm.

 Thumbs up from Kimi for new Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA

Alfa Romeo is going big with the upcoming Giulia GTA and GTAm models and this is personified by having none other than Kimi Räikkönen as part of the testing process. 

The Finnish driver from the Alfa Romeo Racing – ORLEN Formula 1 team has conducted the final testing session on the definitive versions of the Giulia GTA and GTAm and follows tests some months ago by the Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi, aimed at honing the new aerodynamic solutions developed by Alfa Romeo and Sauber Engineering. 

“I really like it,” he says. “We’re looking at a car that can be used on an everyday basis, but that can also be taken onto the track, one in which you can really enjoy yourself.”

 

Kimi Räikkönen analysed the changes made to the car, specifically in terms of the aerodynamics. He had already worked on this aspect in the first session, providing invaluable advice on the new appendages added both to the front in the form of the new adjustable splitter built into the new front bumper and to the rear – the addition of the new manually adjustable wing. 

More general changes have also been made to the overall balance guaranteed by the interaction of these new components with the extractor and the underbody fairing. 

Kimi’s judgment? “Of course, it's better at high speeds in terms of balance. It seems the front of the car is lower, making the steering faster. It’s fast, easy to drive, and responsive.” 

Once he takes off his racing suit and is away from the spotlight, Kimi Räikkönen is back playing the role of father, taking his children to school. He believes the Giulia GTA represents the ideal mix for use every day and on the track. 

Alfa Romeo entrusts Sauber Engineering with the production of most of the carbon fibre components in the GTA and GTAm, especially those that affect the aerodynamics. These include the new front bumper, the side skirts, the extractor, the GTA spoiler and the GTAm aero wing.

 

Courtesy of its manually adjustable front and rear wings, the Giulia GTAm can adapt its aerodynamic performance to any kind of track or road, precisely following the requests and preferences of its driver. The aerodynamic research in the wind tunnel was not limited to the wing appendages, it also focused on the underbody, fully faired as in the Giulia Quadrifoglio. 

The GTA and GTAm also benefit from a special new air extractor capable of increasing the car’s ground effect, thus guaranteeing excellent road holding at high speeds. In particular, on the Giulia GTAm the most intense aerodynamic configuration mounts double the pressure of the Giulia GTA, triple compared to the Giulia Quadrifoglio, the previous benchmark in its segment.