In February Alfa Romeo will boost its presence in Australia with the launch of the mid-size Giulia sedan – a very important car for importer Fiat Chrysler Australia spearheading a new line-up of at least six models by 2020. Alfa Romeo has had mixed fortunes in this country over a long time with an inconsistent flow of the right product to sustain a real and positive presence. Alfa Romeo sales last year tallied around 700 sales, 55 percent below 2015 so the new line-up will be welcome news. The Giulia by all accounts will be a cutting edge prestige model in four variants – the entry Giulia, the Giulia Super, the sportier Giulia Veloce and the performance-skewed QV flagship – a BMW M3 – Mercedes-Benz AMG-63 competitor. The entry model Alfa-Romeo Giulia uses a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol turbo with 147 kW of the entry model Alfa-Romeo Giulia uses a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol turbo with 147 kW of power providing a fairly brisk 0 to 100 acceleration time of 6.6 seconds. The Giulia is a very important model for Alfa Romeo in Australia.

Helping to re-build much-needed volume – the small Giulietta almost solely carrying the brand over the last few years. The new Giulia will be joined by the mechanically related Stelvio SUV in 2018, followed by a large sedan, two more SUV’s, a pair of sports cars and a new hatch to replace the ageing Giulietta – all arriving before 2020. The Italian sports-orientated brand needs to have consistency across a number of segments if it is to re-gain the confidence of the buying public.

I’m David Berthon

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