SPIED: + VIDEO: What Does The Standard Alfa Romeo Giulia NEED To SUCCEED Against Other Sport Sedans?

First - the Giulia does not need to succeed. The world does not need FCA and would quite well without the Formerly European part of that entity. The fact is- there is little difference between the upper end cars in this category. The differences - measured in TENTHS of a second- are for a professional driver on a closed course - real drivers on streets would see very little differences if any.

So - it comes down to creature comforts - and the unexplainable "class" of the cars. The Alfa may have a name in Europe - but in the USA - they won't and don't. Coming from FIAT - which has a history of unreliable vehicles - vehicles that are overweight - and lack superior interior room - the question is - will the outer styling compel people to buy it over other choices. For a few months - they will sell well to those who just want something different - the real question will be answered near the end of the first year - when it will have to sustain sales on its merits.

Frankly - without looking at the front end - from the side - the car looks like a BMW 3 series - not so Unusual. Now -even if it was LIGHTER than I expect - had most/all of the gadgets of this class cars - and had superior interior space - it will still need to establish a HISTORY of reliability (whether good or bad) - and it simply cannot do that in one year - much less one generation. It will take a LOT longer than FCA currently hopes - even if the car is competitive (see Cadillac).

Agree with most of what you said except I see no BMW in this car, the curves more remind me of Infiniti or Mazda.

Also just think it's kind of funny that you reversed the order of their challenge when it should be one generation much less one year seeing as how one year is much shorter and would be more difficult to establish a track record of reliability.

A MUCH better plan for Alfa Romeo would have been to have partnered with Mazda and to have reskinned their products to do Alfa Romeos. That would have put the brand where it belongs i.e. between mainstream (Chrysler) and premium (Maserati).

Predicting success can sometimes be like predicting the weather where crap products fill the streets and the greats get ignored.

What they need is good adverts, great packages/sales team, people with money they can't wait to throw away and others who want to look like they do and the right climate for it to snowball.

The Giulia needs to be on sale already.

It should have been marketed as a Maserati.

It needs to be priced well below the 3 Series and C Class.

It needs a "Hyundai" warranty.

It needs sweetheart leases.

I predict the Giulia and the Jaguar XE will NOT be stellar successes. Part of that has to do with their vestigial dealer networks, but most of it will have to do with the C Class be so demonstrably better.

To sum up my feelings, completely in line with what Matt says - the Guilia needs to be inexpensive. It should list at 10% below the 3-series, C-class, and A4).

Second, it should be marketed with scantily clothed women, lots of noisy youtube clips, and lots of testosterone. It should be the "step-up" car from the VW GTI - not to sexist, but it should be marketed as a non-PC "man's car". It should be as sexist as a Roman construction worker heckling women. 15 year old boys should have posters of it up in their bedrooms. Alfa should channel the Pirelli calendars. Flame away, but Alfa will need that kind of advertising to get buyers attention.

This is non a suburban realtor's car, this is a male, sales-rep's or stock-broker's car.

The scantily clad women angle could backfire on so many levels. Gay men with money is a healthy segment that is not receiving effective marketing.

In the vintage car market--in which I dabble--gay men are a significant portion of the buyers.

In the track monster car market--in which I dabble--gay men are a significant portion of the buyers.

In the premium car market--in which I dabble--gay men are a significant portion of the buyers.

These men are into cars big time.

I am an affluent 40-something gay guy and I can assure you, gays are not going to care about the Guilia. We care about Maserati's and Ferrari's definitely (the two Bugatti owners I know are gay), but Alfa is too pedestrian for us.

Alfa is too "new" to the market, most affluent gays have been to Italy and they know that Alfa's over there, are really sort of like Toyotas or Chevy's over here, plus gays are smart and know that an Alfa is a bad financial proposition, unless the lease is super subsidized.

Alfa's best customer could be summed up as all those 26-40 year old single, suburban, straight, "gold's-gym", Jersey-shore, South Beach, Nassau County, basketball fan, men - the same type who bought Infiniti G35/37's coupes (and tinted the windows) the first few years they were on the market. This is the perfect vehicle for that demo.

If Alfa studies the price point of that Infiniti Coupe relative to 2016 and prices the Giulia accordingly, includes lots of sports-bling and carbon/blacked out trim, they will have a hit on their hands.

Somebody's idea of a partnership with Mazda is what resonates with me in this thread. Sexy, red and Italian on the outside and the reliability and nimbleness of Mazda in the inside.

A good roadside protection plan?

FCA has decided to go upmarket with Alfa Romeo. They did so because they have been unsuccessful with sharing FWD platforms with Fiat on smaller vehicles. Further on their midsize range the so called "premium" platform that spawned the Brera and the 159 was simply too heavy and too costly to be profitable for Alfa. In addition they used GM/Holden block for their V6 engines. Originally in the 60's and early 70's Alfa was competing with BMW with it's RWD small sedan offerings. But quality control issues doomed them. When Fiat bought them in the late 70's it's plan was to have Alfa share platforms with Fiat and Lancia models. Once that occurred that destroyed any credibility that Alfa could compete with German automakers at their level and make enough profit per unit. The original plan with Alfa again was to use and share platforms with other FCA products. This would have again limited Alfa in terms of it's history for producing a competitive product against the Germans. So FCA decided to create a brand new RWD platform. Whether or not it's good enough, refined enough or has the reliability and quality remains to be seen. Further with it's history over the last 30 years or so(mid eighties forward), it's going to be interesting to see if FCA can convince buyers that Alfa is a viable alternative to more people than just devoted Alfisti. The Giulia shape is in fact generic Euro sedan. They deliberately have done this in the hope that it will have a familiar appeal to the BMW, Mercedes, Audi buyer. Obviously FCA felt that they could not make money with Alfa if it a shared platforms with anyone else. I'm not saying I agree with the reasoning. Sharing a FWD or AWD platform from Mazda and expanding the performance parameters to me would have made more sense.
Further the pressure to price their product with Audi, Mercedes, and BMW would not have been there. Time will tell.

Simple really. Quality, reliability, performance, ride, handling, and dealer service. The Alfa has to meet all these parameters. This is especially important if Alfa is to meet or come anywhere close to sales goals. The other issue is Maserati has been faltering. FCA has to analyze why this has happened and what changes they do with Alfa to prevent this from happening.