There's Still Hope For The Slow-Selling Alfa Romeo Giulia

Sep. 03, 2019 10:01 AM ET by Jay Traugott / 30 Comments

Keep your fingers crossed.

Alfa Romeo did something quite unexpected back in late 2016. The then all-new Alfa Romeo Giulia sports sedan launched on an all-new rear-wheel-drive platform. Better yet, the Quadrifoglio variant, aka the QV, came powered by a Ferrari-derived twin-turbo 2.9-liter V6 with just over 500 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque. We were smitten. The Alfa Romeo Giulia QV became the new benchmark high-performance sports sedan, taking the spot that had been occupied by the BMW M3 for years. Less powerful Giulia variants were also very well received by critics but, sadly, sales have been less than stellar.

Last year, a total of 11,519 Giulias left US dealership lots while BMW sold a combined total of 75,957 3 and 4 Series vehicles. Yes, BMW does combine total yearly sales of the sedan, coupe, convertible, and Gran Coupe, but the traditional sedan still makes up the majority of sales.

Alfa Romeo

Point being is that the Giulia is not faring well in a market that's favoring crossovers more than ever. Does this mean Alfa Romeo will just let the current Giulia run its course and not replace it when the time comes? Fortunately, this does not appear to be the case. Autocar recently spoke with FCA (Alfa Romeo's parent company) European design boss Klaus Busse about this issue and while he refused to divulge details, he did state the following regarding the next Giulia: "We have an idea, but it's too early to share." He did not even so much as hint that the Giulia's future could be in doubt.

Alfa Romeo

That's obviously good news, but many uncertainties remain. For example, will the next Giulia, whenever it arrives, continue to be a global model? What about a high-performance version to compete with the next M3 and Mercedes-AMG C63? Could it adapt a partial or even an all-electric powertrain in order to help it stand out from the rest of the pack? All relevant questions with no answers for now.

Above all, Alfa Romeo is not about to give up the sedan market fight.