Alfa delays Giulia

Emotional Italian brand Alfa Romeo has delayed the launch of its Giulia by at least six months as it struggles to overcome ride and handling issues.

Previewed in June and officially launched at September’s Frankfurt motor show, the Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde was to arrive before the end of this year as the first in a range of comeback cars for Alfa, followed by the volume versions of the range and then an SUV.

Supplier sources have told Automotive News Europe that the Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde would now go on sale no sooner than the middle of 2016, with the SUV pushed back nine months to at least the second quarter of 2017.

The publication's sources said that Alfa had delayed the car to refine its safety and ride characteristics. Our independent sources confirmed Alfa’s all-new rear- and all-wheel drive modular architecture was causing problems, with the brand’s engineers struggling to strike a balance between the search for BMW-beating grip and the ride quality expected in most countries.

“It’s as hard as a rock and too nervous and the US guys, in particular, have given them a lot of pushback on it,” an engineering source explained.

“Even when they posted their lap time on the Nürburgring, the car was very nervous and that was on cut racing slicks and more than 100kg lighter than the production version,” he said.

The Giulia and its derivatives were the key platforms in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles boss Sergio Marchionne’s business forecast for 400,000 Alfa Romeo sales a year by 2018.

Marchionne admitted at the end of October that FCA was re-evaluating the Alfa Romeo product rollout, and was likely to still invest the planned €5 billion in new product, but it would be stretched out to 2020, rather than ending in 2018.

The plan called for eight new models by 2018, including two SUVs, two coupes, a big luxury sports sedan, a convertible and a replacement for the mid-sized Giulietta hatch, but Marchionne has FCA working to revise the timing of the model rollout.