Giulia Quadrifoglio

Make
Alfa Romeo
Segment
Sedan

Back in the early days of motoring, luxury automakers would sell chassis to their wealthiest customers who would them commission coachbuilders to put on a bespoke body. This process doesn't really work on modern cars these days, because the body and the chassis are forced to be structurally integral for crash and pedestrian safety reasons. And re-engineering the exterior of a vehicle for the sake of one customer while being able to comply with regulations would likely cost millions of dollars, if not closer to a billion.

However, there are a few rare examples where the art has been kept alive. Touring Superleggera is a world-famous Italian coachbuilder, most well-known for creating the 8C-based Alfa Romeo Disco Volante.

The company most recently revealed a limited edition sports car based on the Maserati GranTurismo and has now teased another new car, which will be based on an Alfa Romeo. The car was originally set to be revealed at the canceled Goodwood Festival of Speed but will now be shown off online in July.

Touring Superleggera will call its creation Berlinetta Aero. It is meant to celebrate Alfa Romeo's 110th birthday and pay homage to one of the company's one-offs called the 8C 2900 B Speciale Tipo Le Mans (pictured below). The original car was built by Touring Superleggera itself, for Alfa Romeo, to compete in the 1938 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was powered by a 2.9-liter straight-eight (!) engine sending 220 horsepower out to the rear wheels through a four-speed manual transmission.

Obviously, Alfa Romeo no longer builds a straight-eight engine, but it does offer a rather nice 90-degree twin-turbo V6. In the recently-revealed Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA, this mill provides a healthy 540 horsepower but we wouldn't be surprised if Touring Superleggera is able to extract even more juice out of it. Based on the teaser, the Berlinetta Aero will be a two-door car, meaning Touring Superleggera plans to chop two doors off the Giulia.

No word has been given on pricing, but changing a car from a sedan to a coupe and giving it a bespoke body, as previously mentioned, can not be cheap. We expect production to be limited in the single digits with a price tag fit only for a professional athlete or CEO, at minimum.