Alfa Romeo will kick its planned revival fully into gear next year when its new Giulia sedan screeches into showrooms.
To put an emphasis on the Italian brand’s heritage, Alfa officials have decided to focus initially on just the high-performance version of the four-door, the Giulia Quadrifoglio. Making 505 horsepower, that model will be able to launch from 0 to 60 in just 3.8 seconds, and hit a top speed of 191 mph.
But Alfa officials hinted during an L.A. Auto Show unveiling that at least one more version of the Giulia is on tap for a more mainstream audience. And TheDetroitBureau.com has learned a few details about that model, as well.
It will rely on a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four making 276 horsepower, Alfa chief Reid Bigland revealed during an interview. It is a new engine developed for Alfa and, like all of the maker’s current and future models, will be produced exclusively in Italy.
(Alfa Romeo brings new Giulia Quadrifoglio to L.A. For more, Click Here.)
Look for the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio to reach North American showrooms by the second quarter of 2016. The turbo model, said the executive, will arrive either late that quarter or sometime early in the third-quarter. The launch of both models was recently pushed back by almost half a year.
While Bigland would not go into further details, it’s expected that Alfa Romeo will add still more engines to the Giulia line. Among other things, it will need a new diesel to compete in the European market. Diesels account for about half of the Continent’s sales, and demand is particularly strong in the luxury segment where they help buyers reduce registration taxes.
Sources suggest the Italian automaker will aim to have a performance edge with all of the new Alfa Romeo Giulia engine variants to come. That will help support the brand’s performance image. Indeed, Alfa has good reason to focus on the Quadrifoglio, its most powerful model, at least as it rolls the Giulia out, analysts suggest.
The symbol dates back to Alfa’s early days as a dominant force in European racing. In 1923, Ugo Savacci, a perennial runner-up on the Alfa factory team, painted a quadrifoglio inside a box on his car for the Targa Florio. He won that time. But the highly superstitious Savacci didn’t have a chance to paint one on his car a few weeks later, and was killed during that race.
(Click Here for more on Alfa’s revised plans.)
Ever since, the four-leaf clover has graced both Alfa race cars and its production models – albeit now framed within a triangle, rather than a box, the missing corner meant to represent the death of Savacci.
Alfa is hoping the new Giulia Quadrifoglio lives up to its image. At 505 hp, it will be the most powerful vehicle in its segment, delivering 80 more horses than the BMW M3. That works out to an equally impressive 174 hp per liter.
With a total vehicle weight of around 3,600 pounds, the Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio will have a power-to-weight ratio of about seven lbs per hp, another segment-best.
(The Giulia is considered one of the hottest car launches of 2016. Click Here for more details.)
The maker also noted during the car’s L.A. debut that it set an all-time record for a production sedan, lapping the grueling German Nurburgring in 7:39. That was a second faster, in fact, than a Lamborghini Murcielago.
