Alfa Romeo Giulietta officially axed

The Alfa Romeo Giulietta hatchback has been officially canned by the Italian ca-maker, which says it will shift its focus towards SUVs and future technology instead.

We pre-empted the news when Alfa slashed production of its hatchback in February, just two weeks after the facelifted Giulietta was finally released in Australia.

Now, Alfa Romeo’s global marketing chief Fabio Migliavacca has confirmed to Autocar that the Giulietta isn’t part of the brand’s future product plans and will be replaced by the all-new Tonale.

“The trend is to have SUVs in the C [small car] segment, so the Tonale SUV will be the replacement for Giulietta,” he said.'

The UK website says Giulietta production is expected to finish by the end of this year, before the Tonale is launched later than expected in 2021.

Migliavacca also said Alfa Romeo is “focused on ensuring the upcoming Tonale would have the same driving dynamics as the Giulietta”.

“We don’t expect driving dynamics to be a weak point for the Tonale,” he said.

Until Alfa’s answer to the BMW X1 arrives in 2021, the Italian brand could be left with just two models – the Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV – both of which have received an MY20 facelift in Europe but not Australia.