ALFA SLOWLY PULLS THE PLUG ON GIULIETTA
Alfa Romeo has slashed its international Giulietta production from 70 cars a day to just 40 and is likely to kill off the unloved Volkswagen Golf rival in April.
There are no plans to replace the C-segment Alfa Romeo, whose sales have never approached its targets, and the segment itself is under unprecedented pressure from compact SUVs. The Giulietta sold just 21 units in SA in 2019.
Parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has already announced a cut in investment and resources for Alfa Romeo after its continued underperformance, and the brand’s entire future depends on the success of the Tonale crossover and its 2022 B-sized SUV.
By the middle of this year, the brand built on sports performance and style will offer just the Giulia and two SUVs (the Stelvio, the Tonale and a B-segment SUV).
Its place on the production line at Cassino will be taken by Maserati’s upcoming D-segment
SUV, sources insisted, and the sub-Levante Trident will arrive towards the end of 2020.
While the Cassino plant also produces the Stelvio and Giulia, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles continues to pursue job cuts and redundancies at the factory near Napoli.
Demand for Alfa Romeo’s range plummeted in January from an already low base (the brand was outsold by the eight-year-old, Italy-only Lancia Ypsilon last year).
Details have yet to be confirmed about the future of the Cassino plant after the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merger with France’s PSA Groupe (the parent company of Peugeot, Citroën, Opel and DS).
Assuming Alfa Romeo demand justifies its continued existence, all of its future products are likely to be switched to PSA platforms, rather than soldiering on as orphans within the combined group.
Its future as a C-segment competitor is unsure, so the Giulietta may never be replaced. The segment lost 100,000 cars, or 5% of its market, in 2019, selling 2.65-million cars.
Also, PSA is replete with Csegment competitors already, with its Peugeot, Citroën and Opel offerings, all of which are more successful than the Giulietta.