2021 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Rwd on 2040-cars

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Touring Superleggera planning a tribute to one of Alfa Romeo's most beautiful cars

Italian coachbuilder Touring Superleggera will help Alfa Romeo celebrate its 110th birthday by putting a modern spin on one of its most graceful sports cars. Called Berlinetta Aero, the coupe will break cover in July 2020. The preview image released by Touring Superleggera does a formidable job of hiding the model's overall lines. It shows what's essentially a sculpture that's half shrouded in darkness. However, it's revealing enough to tell stylists traced a parallel between the Berlinetta Aero and the one-off Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B Speciale Tipo Le Mans (pictured below) built by Touring to compete in the 1938 edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It wore an extra-long hood and a short rear end, defining styling cues that seem to appear on the modern recreation. Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 B Speciale Tipo Le Mans View 3 Photos As its name indicates, the 8C 2900 was powered by a 2.9-liter straight-eight that sent 220 horsepower to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual transmission. Touring doesn't have a straight-eight to play with in 2020, so it will allegedly power the Berlinetta Touring with the Giulia GTA's twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6. It develops 540 horsepower when it's bolted in the Alfa's engine bay, though a power hike isn't inconceivable. Touring Superleggera planned to introduce the Berlinetta Aero at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but the 2020 event was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Its unveiling will consequently take place online, according to Italian website Motori. Additional details (like the unveiling date) will be published in the coming weeks. Touring hasn't said anything about pricing or production figures yet, but it's safe to assume the Berlinetta Aero will be expensive and rare. For context, it capped production of the gorgeous, 8C-based Disco Volante it unveiled in 2012 at eight examples, and it built five units of the Ferrari F12-based Berlinetta Lusso shown in 2015.

Alfa Romeo goes hatchback-free after axing the Giulietta

Alfa Romeo exited the hatchback segment by ending production of the Giulietta, a Volkswagen Golf-sized model introduced in 2010. It's planning on filling the void in its range with a city-friendly crossover in the coming years. Honored with a heritage-laced nameplate, the Giulietta made its debut in Milan as Alfa Romeo celebrated its 100th birthday. Executives considered selling it in the United States but decided to keep it on the other side of the pond, though its basic platform underpinned the short-lived Dodge Dart. In its home country, the hatchback was positioned as a premium model that reflected the firm's upmarket ambitions. It slotted beneath the Giulia. Stylists made several visual tweaks to the Giulietta during its 10-year life cycle, and they managed to keep it looking relatively fresh. It's a different story inside, where the 2020 model feels about as old as it is. Alfa Romeo's earlier hatchbacks — including the 147 — spawned high-performance variants that still raise eyebrows several decades after their launch, but the Giulietta never received the full go-fast treatment. Over the course of its production run, engine options ranged from a 104-horsepower 1.4-liter turbo four to a 1.8-liter four-cylinder turbocharged to 240 horsepower. Front-wheel-drive was the only configuration offered. Over 400,000 units of the Giulietta were manufactured in Italy between 2010 and 2020. The final example was made shortly before Christmas, according to French website Caradisiac. We don't know what it looks like or where it's off to. Alfa could choose to put it in its collection, or it might send it to an unsuspecting dealer. The news comes a couple of weeks after news that the slow-selling Alfa 4C Spider was among the cars that won't be coming back in 2021. Alfa Romeo Tonale View 9 Photos What's next? Rumors claimed Alfa Romeo would develop a rear-wheel-drive successor to the third-generation Giulietta built on a shortened version of the Giulia's platform. Had it been launched, this model would have undoubtedly become the enthusiast's choice in its segment, especially because the BMW 1 Series went front-wheel-drive. We don't know if the reports were accurate, but what's certain is that a new Alfa Romeo hatchback is not around the corner. Instead, the Giulietta's spot in the range will soon be occupied by the production version of the Tonale concept (pictured above) introduced during the 2019 edition of the Geneva auto show.

Alfa Romeo Zagato-designed Giulia-derived coupe previewed

Alfa Romeo's long-awaited return to the coupe segment may be imminent. The company published an enigmatic preview image on its social media channels that shows the rear end of what's labeled the "Giulia SWB Zagato," and it pledged to release more details in the near future. While there's not much we can glean by looking at the dark teaser, we can at least say with near-certainty that the coupe won't look much like the Giulia when viewed from the back. The photo depicts a thin strip of LEDs that seemingly stretches across the entire rear end, and the basic silhouette is vaguely reminiscent of the Giulia TZ (Tubolare Zagato) and TZ2 coupes built in very limited numbers during the 1960s. Beyond that, your guess regarding what we're looking at is as good as ours. The name strongly suggests that the coupe will be Giulia-based, shorter than the sedan, and designed jointly with Zagato. Company boss Jean-Philippe Imparato has previously confirmed that the two-door model will make its debut at some point in 2023 and he clarified that it will be "very exciting, very selective, and very expensive." To us, it sounds like the coupe will land as a limited-edition model rather than as a regular-production addition to the company's range. What the coupe will be powered by is up in the air as well. Given the Giulia-derived platform, we wouldn't be surprised if power comes from a version of the 2.9-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 that powers the range-topping Quadrifoglio. The six develops 505 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque in Alfa Romeo's BMW M3 fighter but those figures could increase in the coupe. Rear-wheel-drive should come standard. Alfa Romeo will publish additional details about the Giulia SWB Zagato in the coming weeks, and we'll see the coupe by the end of 2023. Related video: Design/Style Alfa Romeo Coupe Luxury Performance