Alfa Romeo Giulia SWB Zagato coupe sums up the fruits of a century-long collaboration

How do our celebrities usually celebrate their creative anniversaries? That's right, concert tours or new music programs. How then to celebrate a very important date for two companies collaborating in the joint production of automotive equipment? It seems the answer suggests itself, don’t you think?


That is why two famous Italian brands decided to remind the whole world of the 100-year period of cooperation. We are talking about the legendary Alfa Romeo and the no less famous Zagato studio. The joint projects of the technical duo date back to 1921.


The final product can be considered the fruit of the labor of the studio team. Except that Alfa Romeo SZ was chosen as the “donor” for the special project. This fact is confirmed in the Zagato press release. It was noted that the experts chose this particular model because of its suitable characteristics and indicators.

The best gift for the 100th anniversary of cooperation

This is far from the first such experience in world practice, when some concept was created in a single copy, for advertising or other purposes. In this case, the creators hope that a car with a stylish design will not only once again remind of one of the most famous Italian manufacturers. There is also a desire to show the breadth of capabilities of Zagato itself. After all, as we have already mentioned, the latter’s employees almost single-handedly coped with the difficult task.



As the name of this car clearly shows, it is based on a production sedan from a partner company: Alfa Romeo Giulia. True, you can’t tell this at first glance. Probably, if not for the name, many would not have guessed about such roots of the special anniversary gift. After all, Zagato engineers literally changed the appearance of the original model beyond recognition.


Although Alfa Romeo employees also provided all possible assistance during the development of the design of the new product, the main burden in fine-tuning all the details lay entirely with Zagato. The car was almost completely ready by the end of 2022. This was the most pleasant mention of how a century ago Alfa Romeo asked to create bodies for their racing and some other models, in particular:

✅ G1
✅RL
✅RM

Nevertheless, the main starting point for joint projects of two Italian companies can be considered what happened in 1925. Then the chief engineer of Alfa Romeo, Vittorio Jano, forwarded the order to create a body for the future racing Alfa 6C 1500. The contractor, using his experience in aeronautics, perfectly succeeded in fulfilling the order. The resulting building met all possible and desired criteria:

✅ reliability
✅ low weight
✅ streamlined

The best confirmation of success was 2nd place in the Mille Miglia race in 1927, and victory in the same competition a year later. After this, all questions about further cooperation of the successful tandem were removed. As we can see, it survived a number of difficult periods and eras, lasting until the present day.

Technical component of a car made in one copy

Returning to today's anniversary hero, it is worth noting that the final car still has Alfa Romeo identification. The use of the company logo is only a reference to the SZ model and serves advertising purposes. For these reasons, the coupe became the only existing work that does not pretend to be any continuation of the story.

External differences from the base model are very high. The resemblance to the standard Giulia is best seen inside, where its nearly complete dashboard and seats are found. However, the interior received finishing in the form of several additional elements:

✅ carbon composite inserts
✅ rich upholstery in fine black leather
✅ green fittings
✅ details to match the body paint

The stated ultimate goal was to create a powerful and elegant coupe in the Gran Turismo category. To achieve this, the base of the Giulia Quadrifoglio has been noticeably shortened. But among its used components are:

✅ direct shift gearbox
✅ rear wheel drive
✅ 2,9-liter turbocharged six-cylinder engine

True, its power was increased from 510 to 590 hp. With. The all-new carbon composite body design is inspired by the SZ and TZ3 Corsa types. It combines the refinement, elegance and long lines of the last car, but with three headlights on each side. They also resemble the modern Tonale type with their low profile. The front end impresses with the unusual concept of a typical radiator grille with a large car company emblem and large areas of openings for the intake of cooling air.


At the rear, it strongly echoes the Giulietta SZ, paired with a cut-off Coda Tronca-type rear end from the early 60s. The prominent edge of the stern is framed by a light line, which further emphasizes the overall design. Of course, there's the requisite diffuser at the bottom of the rear bumper, which houses a pair of surprisingly unobtrusive Akrapovic exhaust tips.

The typical Zagato roof with a pair of bulges above the passengers' heads is also a given, improving aerodynamics without limiting interior space. The rear wheels are driven, but power is supplied to them not through the automatic transmission from the GTAm, but through a six-speed manual.

A future shrouded in mystery

Thanks to the shorter and carbon-fiber body, one can assume that the car has lost some weight compared to the Giulia GTAm. The latter weighs 1580 kilograms, but for some reason the new Zagato does not specify specific indicators in this regard.


And this is not the only information carefully hidden by the manufacturer. After all, neither then nor after the transaction was completed, the name of the person for whom this unusual coupe was made was never announced. It is only known that the owner of the desired car was one of the German collectors.

This can be stated with complete confidence. After all, after the presentation, the equipment ended up at the La Pista circuit in the Italian city of Arese. Here they were able to film her and take some exclusive photographs. Thanks to this, we all got the opportunity to at least see what the car actually looks like.

The posing turned out to be quite short-lived, after which the car went to its owner. And mysteries continued to shroud the future fate of the Alfa Romeo Giulia SWB Zagato. Not only is the name of the buyer unknown, but the amount of the transaction itself is also not disclosed.


As already mentioned, the studio does not plan to create other similar cars, so now the opportunity to see the model live is akin to meeting the Loch Ness monster in person. Although, however, everything in this life changes and, perhaps, the specimen will become a participant in some kind of show. Or maybe it will change the owner - time will tell. In the meantime, we can put an end to the history of the Alfa Romeo Giulia SWB Zagato.