‘Stelvio killed the Giulia Star’ – Alfa say the Stelvio SUV (pictured) means there is no point building an Alfa Giulia Estate. Shame.
There will be no estate version of the new Alfa Romeo Giulia, says Alfa boss, as Alfa believe potential buyers will get their fix with the Alfa Stelvio SUV instead.
We Brits are quite fond of an estate car; it’s safe, practical and grown up. But it seems we’re in a real minority of world car buyers as yet another car maker buries the estate car.
Following Ian Callum’s assertion that there will be no Jaguar XE Estate as the numbers just don’t add up, an Alfa Romeo boss has popped up and told Car Magazine that there’s no chance of an Alfa Romeo Giulia Estate (or Sportswagon in Alfa-speak) either.
It seems, just like Jaguar, Alfa feel there will be insufficient demand for an estate car of this size, with Alfa production boss Alfredo Altavilla saying:
We decided not to do a Giulia Sportwagon.
Do we really need it if the Stelvio SUV drives that well? Maybe not. With our fine-tuning, the Stelvio can capture all the people who would otherwise have been interested in the SW.
It’s a point of view which pervades the industry, despite modern manufacturing techniques making it more cost-effective than ever to produce body variants. And it’s a real shame, because even though the Alfa Stelvio has real promise, it can never be as dynamic as the Giulia.
An estate version of the impressive Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio would have been hugely appealing, but it seems the bean counters, and buyers who want to sacrifice dynamics for ride height, means there’s no demand for a fast estate car in this sector.
Has anyone told Mercedes they’re wasting their time producing the C-Class Estate as well as the GLC? Or that BMW are on a hiding to nothing with an X3 SUV and a 3 Series Touring?
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