Zagato to build nine road-legal TZ3 Stradale sportscars

ALFA Romeo has leveraged Fiat Group’s Chrysler tie-up by launching a new limited-edition sportscar built on a Dodge Viper chassis and drivetrain to wrap up the Italian marque’s 100th birthday celebrations and its 90-year association with design house and coachbuilder Zagato.

The road-legal Zagato TZ3 Stradale – just nine of which will be built – is clothed in a bespoke carbon-fibre body, delivering what Zagato says “can represent the first American Alfa Romeo”.

The first three Stradales are already spoken for, with number one already in the hands of a United States-based Alfa Romeo Zagato collector. A further two will be delivered to customers in Japan and Europe.

Alfa Romeo’s Australian importer Ateco Automotive told GoAuto that it is unlikely that any of the remaining six will make an appearance Down Under.

No performance figures have been provided, but the Viper on which it is based deploys a 450kW/760Nm 8.4-litre V10 to achieve 0-100km/h in less than four seconds and reach a top speed of 296km/h.

Zagato says the TZ3 Stradale celebrates the road legal heritage of Alfa Romeo Zagato coupes dating back to the 1920s.

The Stradale is inspired by but not to be confused with 2009’s TZ3 Corsa, a one-off track-only car weighing just 850kg and commissioned by German Alfa Romeo Zagato collector Martin Kapp, whose collection also includes examples of the classic TZ1 and TZ2 from the 1960s.

The Corsa was based on a “mono shell” carbon-fibre chassis with tubular frame, hand-beaten aluminium body and powered by a Ferrari/Maserati-derived 309kW 4.2-litre dry sump V8 mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox.

While the TZ3 Corsa takes its styling inspiration from the TZ1, especially the three-piece rear window set, the Stradale echoes the TZ2’s one-piece rear windscreen, side vents and unmistakeably Alfa alloy wheel design.

All TZ-designated cars share the distinctive aerodynamic “Kamm-tail” design made famous by Zagato in the 1960s and enabled a reduction of wind resistance without the need for an elongated tail section.

With 298 sales to the end of March, up 11.2 per cent, Alfa Romeo is on track to achieve its target of 1100 sales for the year. Ateco has sold 113 Giulietta hatches, making it Alfa’s’s top seller in Australia.