The acronym “GTA” represents the ultimate expression of Alfa Romeo’s personality, and its emphasis on performance and driving pleasure. In 2020, this synthesis took physical form once again as Alfa Romeo celebrated its 110th anniversary by presenting the new Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA and its even sportier sibling, the Giulia GTAm
After seeing the images in early 2020 and encountering the car in the flesh last year at the Alfa Romeo museum, we wanted to celebrate the GTA by following the final stages of testing in the places where engineers and designers finalise tuning with a fleet of prototypes.
What Lies Beneath
Fiat Chrysler’s Pomigliano d’Arco facility played host to our meeting with the GTA. A 20-minute drive from Naples, Italy, we witnessed the validation tests for the suspension and materials of the newest Giulia while also paying a symbolic tribute to Alfa Romeo founder Nicola Romeo, who was born in the nearby town of Sant’Antimo.
While there, we spoke with Domenico Bagnasco, a high-performance vehicle validation engineer responsible for the GTA, who pointed out the peculiar technical features of this project.
The Limited Edition
We then moved on to the Alfa Romeo factory in Cassino, where the first GTA and GTAm are about to join the production line alongside the other variants of the Giulia and Stelvio. The production flexibility of the plant allows the construction of special editions like the GTA and GTAm, for which Alfa Romeo is planning 500 examples.
As pointed out by Nicolò Vianello, model engineer for the Giulia GTA project, the days when the first examples pass through the production plant are key moments for the validation of the last details. That’s the case with the motorsport-style centre-lug wheels, a tailor-made operation, since the GTA is the first road-going saloon to come to market with such a feature.
From The Road To History
Alfa Romeo’s decision to use these wheels sums up the sporty nature of the GTA project, with dynamic qualities that we were able to taste on the hilly roads around Turin, which served as the setting for test sessions.
We wrapped our day learning about the GTA by joining the designers at Alfa Romeo Style Centre to learn about the guidelines that created the hot Giulia. But before that, we went to the brand’s museum, in Arese, to meet the cars that led to the Giulia GTA. Alfa Romeo has made impressive strides while developing this new model – we can’t wait to drive it, on the road and the track, later this year.
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Gallery: Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA e GTAm - How they were born