Desira is launching the all-new and highly-anticipated Alfa Romeo Giulia executive sports saloon this weekend.

One of the most highly-anticipated cars of the year, the Alfa Romeo Giulia, is being launched by Desira Group this weekend.

The new executive sports saloon will be unveiled at the Norwich and Bury St Edmunds dealerships on Saturday at 10am and bookings are now available to test-drive the car.

Alfa Romeo's rival to the likes of the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class has been named most beautiful car in the Golden Steering Wheel competition with this latest award adding to a remarkable collection of international prizes won by the new Alfa Romeo sports car.

The Giulia was voted for by readers of Auto Bild and Bild am Sonntag, with a panel of 29 automotive experts.

Created by the Alfa Romeo Style Centre, the exciting Giulia is a new expression of the best Italian tradition that combines harmonic proportions, linearity of style, high-quality materials and sophisticated aluminium, wood and leather accents. All these are embellished with iconic elements originating in the brand's 116-year history, the most significant of which is the trefoil, arguably the most famous emblem of Alfa Romeo design.

Awarded since 1976 it's not Alfa Romeo's first success in the Golden Steering Wheel competition which was won by Alfa Romeo in 2011 for the I am Giulietta advertising campaign. Alfa Romeo 147 won in its category in 2000, while in 1995 the Golden Steering Wheel award for the coupé category went to Alfa Romeo GTV.

The Giulia, which also won the What Car? car of the year 2016 reader award, is priced from £29,180 on the road, rising to £59,000 for the high-performance 510hp Giulia Quadrifoglio.

Combining perfect weight distribution with all-new rear-wheel drive architecture, the Giulia offers customers best-in-class power-to-weight ratios and innovative engine and driver technologies.

Customers can choose between 200hp 2.0-litre and 510hp 2.9-litre B-Turbo V6 petrol and 150hp and 180hp 2.2-litre turbo diesel engines, all paired to a new eight-speed automatic transmission as standard.

The range features five trim levels – Giulia, Super, Tecnica, Speciale and top-of-the-range Quadrifoglio.

With a competitive residual value in the compact executive class of up to 38.2% after three years and 60,000 miles, the Giulia will be available for £269 plus VAT per month with a competitive profile of 6+23 months and 10,000 miles a year on business contract hire.

New efficient active safety systems, including automatic braking to avoid another vehicle or pedestrian and lane departure warning, are standard across the range.

The innovative safety technology contributed to the Giulia being awarded a five-star Euro Ncap rating, with a 98% protection result for adult occupants – the highest score ever achieved by a car.

For more information, or to book a test drive, telephone Desira's Alfa Romeo dealerships in Heigham Street, Norwich, on 01603 671890 or Western Way, Bury St Edmunds, on 01284 333357 or log on to www.desiragroup.com