Spy photographers have spotted a a very mildly camouflaged Alfa Romeo 159 at Germany’s Nurburgring track and sources say that a Ferrari V8 lies under its hood. The GTA is set to compete with the German stalwarts: BMW M3 , Mercedes C63 AMG and Audi RS4.
Alfa has already tapped Ferrari to produce a V8 motor for its new supercar, the 8C Competizione. That motor, a collaborative effort between Alfa, Ferrari and Maserati , will be produced in Maranello, Italy, Ferrari’s legendary home base.
The GTA, an abbreviation for the Italian Gran Turismo Allegerita, is not expected to entirely live up to its name: Allegerita means lightenened in Italian, but the GTA will include Alfa’s Q4 all-wheel-drive system. Other performance-enhancing perks exclusive to the GTA visible in these latest spy photos include wide, low-profile tires, modestly flared wheel arches, a modified bodykit and dual exhaust. Fender-mounted vents and a hood vent look to be a possibility, too.
The 159 GTA picks up where its predecessor, the 156 GTA, left off. The 156 GTA, sold from 2001 to ’05, featured a 3.2-liter V6 motor produced by GM’s Australian subsidiary, Holden. That motor produced just under 250 horsepower initially, a respectable figure in ’01, but not comparable to the V8s in the 159 GTA’s competition. The GTA had been rumored to be powered by a turbocharged version of that V6, still a possibility.
June 29, 2007
