Alfa Romeo Giulia QV joins Italy's police fleet

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Alfa Romeo's Giulia Quadrifoglio performance sedan has hit the road as a member of Italy's military police fleet.

Two of the hotly-anticipated sedans were presented to the Carabinieri this week, slated for special duties in Rome and Milan. Each will be used for "special occasions", including transporting organs and blood and serving as police escorts during public events.

The duty cars mark the first of Alfa's hotly-anticipated Giulia Quadrifoglio to hit public roads in production guise.

Like the production models due to reach Australian showrooms from early 2017, the police special is powered by a Ferrari-developed 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 that makes 375kW of power and 600Nm of torque; good enough for a 3.9 second sprint to 100km/h. The police versions even have the same six-speed manual transmission that's standard in the production car.

Like the Maserati Ghibli with which it shares its basic underpinnings, the front double wishbone and multi-link rear suspension are constructed using lightweight aluminium components for optimum handling performance.

The Giulia QV also features an active front splitter to increase downforce as part of a new Chassis Demand Control system that extends the DNA toggle (for Dynamic, Normal and Advanced Efficient modes) with a specific Race function that relaxes the stability control, introduces a launch function and brings more aggressive throttle and steering maps.

The police versions each receive a bank of LED flashlights atop the roof, a storage compartment for weapons along with radios, tablets, a defibrillator and portable cooling units – all the necessary equipment for daily duties.

Because the Giulia is faster than Italy's average police car, officers will be specially chosen to drive them – trained by Alfa Romeo instructors at the Varano de Melegari circuit.

The entire Alfa Giulia range is expected reach Australian showrooms from the beginning of 2017.

http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/a...08-gopisi.html