Giulietta to go it alone against Golf, Mazda3

With no prospect of a right-hand drive Dodge Dart sedan or its Fiat spin-off, the Viaggio, Alfa Romeo’s Giulietta hatchback will remain the Fiat-Chrysler’s primary competitor in Australia’s booming small-car segment.

To do that, Fiat Chrysler Group Australia plans to introduce an entry-level version of the five-door hatch with less equipment and a pricing target between $26,000 and $27,000.

The intention is to pitch the small Italian five-door into direct competition with popular small cars such as the Mazda3 and Volkswagen Golf - in other words, sales of 1000 per month or more.

At the moment, the Giulietta is averaging 50 sales per month.

The Giulietta’s Australian stocks have already been bolstered by the arrival of the TCT dual-clutch automatic transmission, while the entry-level model will be needed to service Fiat-Alfa’s dealer network, which expands from 16 to 52 metro dealers from February 1.

Fiat Chrysler Group Australia acquired Fiat and Alfa Romeo distribution rights from Ateco Automotive earlier this year. Currently, the cheapest Giulietta is the Distinctive 1.4-litre turbo-petrol manual ($36,990).

“You’ve got to remember historical sales numbers for the Giulietta are meaningless because there wasn’t an auto,” said FCGA Managing Director, Clyde Campbell.

“If we get it competitive we think it’s a genuine competitor to those two (Mazda3 and Golf) products.

“Today it is not. Where we start in terms of pricing today I think we can have a lower spec variant and achieve a much better entry pricepoint.”

Mr Campbell said the cachet of the Alfa Romeo nameplate would also help attract buyers: “Alfa also has a heart string and heritage factor. The cars are also well made compared to what they used to be like.”

FCGA has been told local demand means it won’t be able to access the Dart out of North America or the Viaggio out of China.

It has also investigated the Linea sedan built in right-hand drive in a joint-venture plant in India, but it needs some upgrading to meet Australian regulatory standards.

“When they have their mid-cycle action they will probably do a lot of those things anyway for India, which means we can bring it here,” Mr Campbell said.

“We will have a lash at it if we can, but it’s got to meet the basic standards we expect. But we are completely open to Indian production.”

Other potential future Fiat Chrysler small-car offerings for Australia include the still-secret replacement for the Fiat Bravo (or Ritmo, as it was known here) and a mooted Chrysler 100.

FCGA will have to make do with the Giulietta and smaller MiTo for the next two years until around six new Alfa models start rolling out.

They include the 159 replacement, the Giulia, a right-hand drive 4C sports coupe, a new-generation Spider developed with Mazda, a crossover and overhauls of the Giulietta and MiTo.

“It’s such a historic name, such a good heritage name. We feel we can really bring that to life with a really good model range,” Mr Campbell said.

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