The 159-replacing Giulia will give Alfa another five years to prove it can finally establish itself as a self-supporting car maker. Unless the Giulia range cracks annual sales of 100,000 cars, Alfa itself could reach the end of the line.
In January Fiat Group boss Sergio Marchionne warned that the Alfa division was under close scrutiny. At the Detroit show he told Autocar, “Alfa has been underperforming for a long time.”
New Giulia key to Alfa's future
But last month Marchionne revealed that Alfa Romeo was to undergo another formal relaunch and get a raft of new models, including a new Spider, to drive its annual global sales up to 500,000 units by the end of 2014.
The range revamp has already started, with the Giulietta replacing the unloved 147 and the GT being lined up for the axe.
Alfa will also return to the American market (with the Giulietta, Giulia and a new Spider) by 2013; Fiat believes the brand should be selling around 85,000 units annually there by the following year.
According to Fiat’s 2006 plans, Alfa should sell a total of 300,000 vehicles in 2010. But in 2009 it shifted fewer than 110,000 units.
New models coming in
Giulietta - 2010Mito facelift - 2012Golf-size SUV - 2012New Mito - 2013New Spider - 2013Giulietta facelift - 2014Large SUV - 2014
Outgoing models
Gt - 2010Spider -2011Brera - 2011
Join the debate
Add your comment
Re: Alfa's range - the next five years
I would love to see Fiat integrate all of it's European car ranges as I beleive there is too much crossovers going on ! Fiats range is ok as it is and so is Abarths but Lancia and Alfa needs sorting out to complement each other ! I see Alfa as a mini Ferrari (hard core sporting more top end power ) and Lancia as a mini Maserati ( Sporting luxury lots of torque ) ! Both should have a small hatch , a family hatch ,small saloon/estate ! Alfa should have a spider and GTV maybe mid engined and Lancia a Montecarlo and sports SUV / crossover ! A large Lancia saloon with a platform shared with a similar sized Maserati would also fill a gap at the top of the range ! Would love to see Alfa and Lancia sold in the same showroom too !
Re: Alfa's range - the next five years
Alfa's 147 wasn't unloved, it is just old! Sales have dropped off because of its age.
I'm a huge fan of Alfa, wouldn't drive anything else, Fiat have been the main problem for Alfa, giving them a range of cars that don't quite cut it with the BMW/Merc of this world.
Also it doesn't help that Fiat keep re-branding Alfa, the big German rivals don't have to do this, & neither should Alfa, give Alfa a range of cars strong enough to compete & they will. I believe alot of people no matter how good Alfa's cars will be would never touch one (their loss!) but the amount of goodwill out there towards Alfa is huge, loads of people bought the 156, they were let down by Alfa, & so they moved on to BMW etc... Alfa can get drivers back (the Giulietta is most certainly an excellent car) but they need a range of cars to do so, & a range that isn't allowed go 8-10 years without being replaced!!
C'mon Fiat, give Alfa the cars it needs to suceed!
Re: Alfa's range - the next five years
Two questions:
Why bother with SUVs (unless, its for the Americans, they can keep them)
Where are the coupes?