For its 110th year, Alfa Romeo hasn’t bothered with a cake. But Kiwis seeking a slice of the hotshot it has cooked up might be chancing it.

KIWI Alfisti keen to secure their favourite brand’s most powerful and most expensive car face an uphill battle.

Created to celebrate Alfa’s 110th anniversary and set to roll off the line from mid-2021, the new flagship Giulia reintroduces the famous GTA badge, first seen on an Alfa Romeo in the 1960s, in two formats – a standard GTA and a more track-honed GTAm.

So, will it come?

While national distributor Ateco declined opportunity to provide direct comment, a spokesperson says it doesn’t seem likely. There’s not only the small matter of anticipated high demand for a small global run – just 500 units – but also that all seem set to be in left-hand-drive.

That doesn’t completely rule out opportunity, of course. And extreme effort might be worthwhile, given this Giulia is unlike any other.

As impressive as it is in its own right, the Quadrifoglio on which the GTA is based is half the car – literally terms of price, with overseas’ reports suggesting the ‘m’ has a sticker roughly double that attached to the $139,990 NZ flagship variant.

Hard to see how something so small will cost, on home turf, around $20k more than the 8C Competizione supercar, which went out of production in 2010?

Well, performance is in a higher league. The new model uses the same 2.9-litre Ferrari-derived V6 engine as the Quadrifoglio but power has been upped from 375kW to 397kW for a 0-100kmh time of just 3.6 seconds.

An Akrapovic titanium exhaust is also fitted, which is much noisier than on the Quadrifoglio. Along with the extra power, the GTA weighs less and features aerodynamic additions to further improve performance, most obviously on the stripped out version.

If that’s not enough to attract attention, then it will be availed in a series of bespoke liveries inspired by the brand's motorsport heritage.

The firm's Centro Stile design arm has taken inspiration from the original Alfa GTAs that ran hard in the European Touring Car Championship. Liveries include a yellow and red paint scheme that harks back to the 1971 title-winning car.

You can also choose from GTA Red, Trophy White and Montreal Green paint colours, chosen to represent the Italian flag. There’s a dedicated online configurator to view the various possible combinations at https://gta.alfaromeo.com.

Even though this Giulia looks quite a lot like any other, it isn’t really. There’s a much wider use of carbon fibre than in the standard car. The driveshafts, front wheel arches, a bonnet, front bumper and roof are made out of the lightweight material.

Both cars get a sharper front bumper with a chin spoiler and naked carbon-fibre inserts, plus black centre-locking alloy wheels and black rear wheel arch extensions. The rear bumper is all-new, the huge functional diffuser is hard to miss. Likewise that enormous carbon-fibre boot lid spoiler. The cars have a 50mm wider track (the distance from one wheel across the axle to the other) and thorough suspension changes.

The GTAm also gets a stripped-out interior, so just two carbon-fibre seats, six-point racing seat belts and a roll cage, no door panels or proper door handles. It has as Alcantara suede-like fabric as the GTA, but weighs around 100kg less.

Buyers will get a tailored race suit, shoes and gloves from Alpinestars and a Bell race helmet, plus a car cover, all included in the cost of the car. The 500 customers also get to attend a driving course at the Alfa Romeo Driving Academy.