Giulia Sales Not Living Up To The Hype - What Has Kept One Out Of Your Driveway?

I do not think things are looking up for the Guilia and for FCA as a whole.

I returned yesterday from a two week trip to Italy (Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Positano) and I have to tell you, I saw maybe TWO Guilia's MAX! I thought they would be around but there were NONE in Italy.

The two that I saw on the road looked little and did not have much presence. Are even the Italians shunning the Giulia?

I believe the problem in the states is name recognition. Alfa is not exactly a known quantity and, at the price point they are demanding, few are willing to take the risk on a brand that hasn't been in this market for 20 years and that they know little to nothing about.

I've seen one Quadrifoglio and that's it. Absolutely gorgeous car. But I haven't much advertising for the Giulia at all and the only one I've seen has featured the Quadrifoglio. If Alfa is only highlighting its top trim, then it won't attract many buyers since the price is so high.
I think Alfa needs to make sure its advertising clearly defines the brand, clearly defines the model, and clearly defines its market segment. Its target buyers will be individuals who have no idea who Alfa is.

Without going into debate on that ugly, offensive front fascia, or its handling and ride, Alfa clearly has some major issues it can't address.

For Fiat to get a foothold in the US, they need to spend inconceivable amounts of advertisement. That's just the nature of the business. They clearly didn't spend enough yet, and the sales shows. Now with the whole dieselgate thing, that the cue that Alfa Romeo pulling out of the US market for the second and last time in the near future.

I don't get this whole "Ferrari-derived" engine thing. It probably shares some tech or design with a Ferrari engine, i.e. number of pistons, valves, cams, but if you REALLY think they'd put a Ferrari engine in a common Alfa/Fiat, you're smoking crack. Don't buy into that BS!

Hi dpalmo , i'm afraid Ferrari engines have been used in common Alfa / Fiats as you refer to them , and in Lancias (have you heard of Lancia in the US?) , Fiat Dino Coupe/Spyder (the name gives it away), Ferrari 2.4 L V6, Lancia Stratos same engine, Lancia 8/32, Ferrari V8 in modified form, Alfa Romeo 8C Competizone, modified Maserati V8, based on Ferrari V8. Have you in fact ever owned an Alfa?, i have driven nothing else for the last 20 years, and i have been satisfied with all of them. I've had a 155 TS, 155 V6 (fantastic, drove down to Italy in it) 164 TS , drove to Italy in that one too, and now i have a 164 Quadrifoglio which i am restoring, the old Alfa V6 is a great engine, i also have a Squire replica which is powered by an Alfa Twin Cam. I will have a Giulia in the future for certain.

I've seen a couple on the road, but there are two things working against them.

1) Alfa dealers are few and far between. While Quadrifoglio buyers may be willing to accept a little inconvenience or travel for service on their "based-on-a-Ferrari-engine" sports sedan, folks buying the normal priced model that competes with the bread and butter 3-Series, C-class, A4, and IS may not be. And, of course, that's important, because

2) I have yet to read a single comparison test where the Alfa didn't suffer glitches and gremlins, or just break completely. A car that needs service work constantly had better be pretty darn charming, like the Quadrifoglio. The normal people buying the normal car, that's not going to fly.

Interior, Interior, Interior. I wanted this to be my next car, but the interior is beyond awful. Going from an Audi to this is a huge step down in quality.

Plus, Clarkson was right. Getting in and out of the driver seat is very uncomfortable.

Going from an Audi interior to any other one is a step down. Was it at least better than a '90s Dodge? Then what are you complaining about? ;)

So going from an Audi interior to a Bentley interior is a step down?

Like I want to drive a car named Guilia ?

You prefer driving a car named Julio instead?

Given that the platform derived from the Chrysler 300 is called Giorgio, it would follow....

Dont you know the history of Alfa Romeo, the Giulia is named after the fabulous Giulia GT of the 1960's.

The front is almost offensive as Lexus vehicle and it is overpriced.

You don't like Giulia wearing a mustache? :)

The Alfa Romeo Giulia's poor sales can be attributed to two issues:

1) Lack of name recognition - People are naturally going to be skeptical about spending the kind of money Alfa is asking on a brand they know little about. It doesn't help that Alfa seems to only advertise the Giulia Quadrifoglio that comes with a $72K MSRP - making the issue of name recognition an even bigger problem.

2) Questionable quality - Buyers don't want to go to the dealer every week to get their cars fixed or feel like they got ripped off every time they sit in their car. When buyers can get an Audi or Mercedes-Benz for the same money, they expect a certain level of luxury based on what they've seen. When they bring those expectations to Alfa and instead see a bunch of hard, dark plastic it kills any chance of buying the car.

3) Saturated market. Everyone and their grandpa has a performance sedan.

The Giulia is a textbook case for how NOT to launch a car.

The first mistake was naming it Giulia. Giorgio would have been better.

The second mistake was shipping the Quadrapleggio as the only initial choice.

The third mistake was pricing. Alfa should have returned with a Genesis mentality (i.e. premium vehicles at near-premium pricing). The Quadraformaggio would have been brilliant at $50K, but at $75K it was ridiculous. A Ti at $40K on the sticker should have been $32K.

The fourth mistake was horrific build quality glitches that had to be fixed by dealers who sometimes had to improvise to make repairs.

The fifth mistake was not to do due diligence on reliability. The customers that bought Giulias are up in arms at how much time they spend in the shop.

The sixth mistake was not having sweetheart leases available.

The seventh mistake was the utterly DUMB advertising. The ones running now almost make it seem like you shouldn't want the car.

I've spent two weekends in Giulias. One was the Quadracrappio which is fun for 30 minutes then you get tired of how shouty it is...and how it's not the most comfortable sedan...then you see the low rent interior...and you are glad not to own one. The Ti was better, but there is no reason to buy this over a Genesis much less an Audi, BMW, or Mercedes.

At the dealer level, things are not rosy.

I predict the Giulia will be like the Ghibli and Qporte...steeply discounted and excess stock "sold" to dealers as courtesy vehicles to make it appear that sales are good.

FCA is such a disaster it is not even funny. Sergio Marchionne is like the clock the doesn't work but which shows the correct time twice a day (or once a day if you are in Europe). The whole sh*t show is kept afloat by Jeep Grand Cherokee sales - the rest of the pile is just Italian 'worker's paradise' crap.

The reason the Giulia quality is so poor and the interior fittings so cheapo is that FCA has to take crazy amounts of cost out so they can pay Italian workers (with super generous work rules and benefits, etc.) to make the vehicles.

FCA is going to be a dust-up. If Sergio was smart he would start sucking up to The Donald because there will either be bankruptcy or a bailout in FCA's future. Jeep and Ram trucks will end up being sold to a Pacific Rim firm and the rest of the pile (Fiat, Alfa, Maserati, Lancia, etc) will just disappear.

The closest parallel here is what happened with British Leyland/Rover Cars 20 years ago - they all just need to go away.

Oh, come on! You people hate everything!

Now I should go and drive one so I can prove y'all wrong ;)

Well it is a 300 after all...

I am sure that there are lots of reasons why the Giulia is selling poorly - however - ONE reason is that the TV Ads are horrible.

For a brand that is not well known today in the general USA - along with a brand that is associated with FIAT - they really blew the commercials. They never mention the brand - and it is only at the end that they even mention the name of the model. Matt's dog could write a better commercial. A commercial that started looking back to the ALFA winning cars of the past - leading to the current Giulia - associating the car with Ferrari - and saying Alfa Romeo several times - as well as the model name would be far better. However - the other problem nobody mentioned - is that the Giulia is not an SUV - which is the current hot vehicle - and small sports sedans are dropping off badly.

Still - while the Giulia platform is an evolution of the Mercedes platform used in the Chrysler 300 - ALL platforms are based on the previous ones - to say that the Giulia IS a 300 ignores that the two vehicles have few parts in common - and their intended market is entirely different.

Which dog?

As other poster's have said it is a very, very, very crowded market. In Canada Mercedes and BMW scoop up 65% of total luxury sales. Lexus gets 20%. Audi 10% and the rest are scrounging for scraps. Now this is 2012 data so the numbers may have shifted a bit, but either way Cadillac, Infiniti, Acura, Jaguar, Volvo, Genesis, Maserati, Porsche and now Alfa Romeo all have to find people to sell to. Not an easy task.

Where are you getting your % from?
YTD Canadian sales for 2017 (source: goodcarbadcar.net)
M-B 21,264 / 22%
BMW 15,023 / 16%
Audi 14,347 / 15%
Lexus 9,790 / 10%
Infiniti 7,938 / 8%

I think 35 to 36 grand would have been a fair starting price for the Giulia. This is a brand that has not offered a mainstream model in this country since 1994. It is a good car with some teething problems. However it has to establish itself first as something not only fun to drive but also practical. I remember when Audi was establishing itself it's prices were typically lower in cost. The Japanese and the Koreans also have adopted this approach while they have been establishing them selves as a recognized marquee. Alfa may have a history but when you've been absent for so long you are basically starting almost from scratch. Forgetting about their horrible reputation in the 70's and 80's most younger generations of the driving public have not really heard of Alfa Romeo. It is frankly ridiculous to assume that a brand new car company is going to simply take off in the first year of sales. The Giulia is going to have to prove itself that it is a real alternative to BMW and Lexus. Starting out with the 4C was a dumb move in my opinion. Not only is the car expensive, it does not offer the basic accoutrements of a Porsche Cayman/Boxster or Jaguar F Type. Alfa needs to make sure the car is reliable and that their service departments offer stellar service. If that cannot be achieved the car cannot go anywhere in sales. Can Alfa fix themselves. Sure if they improve build quality so that there are not glitches the dealer needs to fix. Second they need to bring the price down to more reasonable level and offer more standard equipment. I think the up coming Stelvio needs to be pretty good out of the box and the price should drop 4 grand to start.

It was also ridiculous to aim Alfa-Romeo and Maserati at the same market. Alfa should have been recast as a near-premium brand with FWD/AWD turbo vehicles.

The Stelvio will be DOA if it's marketed as a true alternative to a Mercedes or BMW. If it were to be marketed like a Genesis, it would have a shot.

Anyone that has experience driving a Mercedes C/E, an Audi 4/6, or a BMW 3/5 and then hops in a Giulia will NOT be impressed because the chassis refinement simply isn't on par with the Germans. Now jack up that platform and pretend it's a crossover and the refinement could suffer more.

If they have brains, they will have the Stelvio base at $29,995.

The Giulia feels like a car that could be good with another two years of prototype development. The Giulia is a brilliant opportunity that was botched.

I think Alfa has to make sure that warning lights will not go off or Sun Roofs will not get stuck. The stop/start has to work every time and not disable the car. The rear back up camera and cross traffic alert sensors have to work perfectly 24/7.So do the door locks. These are the basics. I think Alfa will end up discounting the Stelvio as they are doing with the Giulia. That tells me that they need to re-adjust the starting price about 4 grand downward. Finally it is going to take time to build it up. Both the Giulia have excellent suspension systems and smooth powerful 4 Cylinder engines. Interior quality needs to improve if Alfa is ever going to get away with Mercedes or BMW prices.

I think the only real chance they have is to try to convert Fiat buyers to upgrade and that means they're market will stay smaller than the mainstream brands. Even in European countries, where the brand has been selling cars for decades, sales are way below the bigger players, with perhaps Italy being the sole exception, so I don't think this will be any different in the US. It's going to remain a niche brand and, much like Land Rover, I don't think anyone at HQ is paying attention to reliability concerns so that's not something that's going to change either.