[Rutlefan]

Favorite takeaways:

"The Giulia achieves something that Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, and Jaguar have tried futilely to do for decades: build a better compact sport sedan than the dominant Deutschlanders."

"There is sorcery in this car,” Chris Walton said. “The Giulia fills the space vacated by BMW. Yet even at the apex of its reign, a 3 Series never rode this well or cornered with such poise and precision simultaneously.”

http://www.motortrend.com/news/alfa-romeo-giulia-2018-car-of-the-year-finalist/

I've been reading for what seems like a lifetime (last quarter century at least) about how any attempt to unseat the Germans in the area of sport sedans is pretty much doomed to failure, and for most of that period that claim seemed well-founded. Fifteen years ago, you didn't have to buy Automobile magazine to know who would win their All Star for best compact sport sedan; the 3-series had it in the bag year after year. Things have changed. Seems Motortrend thinks that someone has finally done it. Nice to read as going back to last year, MT had published a blurb that suggested the new Giulia was "style over substance" because of unsubstantiated reports (really it was all traceable to one Automotive New Europe article, using an anonymous source from an unnamed FCA supplier) that it had failed internal crash tests.

So from "style over substance" to reaching the mountaintop: building a better sport sedan than the Germans. As a longtime Alfa fan, Hallelujah, I hadn't seen this coming. I was just hoping for something maybe 3/4 of the way there, providing a good foundation with room for improvement so that some day the gap might be closed, if not completely, close enough; something that wasn't like the 159, being beautiful but dynamically no real threat to German supremacy. Early reports of a FWD car had me thinking we weren't going to get anything like a game-changing car. Fortunately Sergio had other ideas. Thank you Sergio! You gave us an affordable car with Ferrari DNA. Loving it!

 

[Lowflyer]

Germans seem a little bit lost maybe...audi got into design dead end, MB all look like carbon copies of each other and BMw these days seems to want to be mainstreem mega volume luxury brand like a Lexus, when they started making cars like Grand Tourer in EU you knew some shift is going on...we are really lucky that alfa for now wants to go back to its core and does not want to compromise at the cost of volume....as long as FCA can maintain the lineups (and with them market share) of brands Alfa will hopefully remain true to its newfound old DNA for long time (time to bring real Lancia back too)

 

[Rutlefan]

I don't expect that Sergio's hopes for turning Alfa into a high volume make to pan out, at least in the U.S. But I do expect that the Giorgio platform will underpin many successful FCA cars, incl Dodge muscle cars, so that the development costs will be recouped and future cash flow will be there to allow Alfa to keep making enthusiast cars while other makes cater to questionable American tastes. I'm enough of a patriot but I've no illusions about my fellow citizens' tastes in many things, especially cars; if Americans had better taste, at least more in line with my own, both the new Mazda 6 and the Giulia would be runaway successes, instead of being more admired and awarded than purchased.

 

[[email protected]]

I know which car I am voting for.

Greg

 

[Eagle7]

I don't expect that Sergio's hopes for turning Alfa into a high volume make to pan out, at least in the U.S. But I do expect that the Giorgio platform will underpin many successful FCA cars, incl Dodge muscle cars, so that the development costs will be recouped and future cash flow will be there to allow Alfa to keep making enthusiast cars while other makes cater to questionable American tastes. I'm enough of a patriot but I've no illusions about my fellow citizens' tastes in many things, especially cars; if Americans had better taste, at least more in line with my own, both the new Mazda 6 and the Giulia would be runaway successes, instead of being more admired and awarded than purchased.

Interesting that you mention the Mazda 6, as that's the car I traded in to buy my Giulia. For the money, the Mazda 6 is a terrific value, which is the same way I feel about the Giulia. I hope they sell enough to survive, but not enough to make them common.

 

[Rutlefan]

I know which car I am voting for.

Greg

Me as well, though I fear the Tesla will win because of the need for automotive journalism virtue signalling, despite Tesla not being able to get the thing into production with one month left in the year.

 

[Chipshot]

I wasn't aware Motor Trend was still in publication.

What award would matter most to Giulia sales?

 

[Carlo]

And the winner is....
The Giulia is getting its deserved recognition for the umpteenth time all around the world. Alfa still knows how to make a great car, after years of missed opportunities.