The new Alfa Romeo Giulia sedan.Antonio Calanni/The Associated Press
As the great tenor Andrea Bocelli delivered a powerful performance of Nessun Dorma, the Alfa Romeo Giulia sport sedan made its public debut on stage behind him. You couldn't help but feel the hopes of Alfa Romeo, and the whole of Italy along with it.
The product launch event was held at the auto maker's newly opened museum just north of Milan called La macchina del tempo – Museo storico Alfa Romeo, full of some of the brand's most storied road and racing cars from its 105-year history. It evokes that passion and fire so unique to Italian cars and Alfa Romeo in particular, something that has been missing from the brand's more modern products for too long, aside from the recent 4C. But this night – and the Giulia – were meant to rekindle that love.
Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), after delivering a speech without looking up once from his cue cards , transformed into a smiling, proud, father-type figure as he welcomed Alfa's "skunk" team – the secret development group for the Guilia – to the stage. Smiling broadly and heartily shaking hands with each one , some were brought to tears by the applause and adulation coming from the audience of Alfa employees and loyalists.
Throughout the night, the message was clear: the Germans can keep their image of cold, calculating perfection. And the Americans can have their raw, unrefined power. If anyone can stir the soul and bring a lump to your throat, leave it to the Italians. Well played, Mr. Marchionne.
As the focus was on emotion, technical and performance specifications were more of an afterthought, but the few facts that were released are startling: though there is no information on its displacement, the Ferrari-derived, twin-turbocharged, all-aluminum V-6 under the hood will send 510 horsepower to its rear wheels, an astounding 85 more than the BMW M3, the Giulia's obvious rival in both size and performance. With an all-new aluminum chassis helping achieve a 2.99 weight-to-horsepower ratio (which puts the car at 1,525 kilograms on our calculator), the Giulia will get to 100 km/h in just 3.9 seconds. As a smaller mid-sized sport sedan, it has the longest wheelbase in its class; it also sports a torque-vectoring system made possible with a dual-clutch differential.
While the body shows hints of the Bimmer from the side, it is beautifully simple and muscular and developed for natural downforce, with a long hood, short trunk and short overhangs. An active front splitter aids aerodynamics at higher speeds; a newly refreshed Alfa logo sits on that famous three-part grille.
Of course, all that passion has to be balanced by a little common sense, and it's here that Alfa Romeo has to use its head as much as its heart when it comes to the North American market in particular. The Giulia is only the beginning of Alfa's planned resurgence; it will invest 5-billion Euros in an aggressive plan that will see another seven models after the Giulia in the next three years. Alfa is targeting worldwide sales of 400,000 vehicles by 2018, about six times its 2014 sales.
No doubt this Guilia is the halo model; it will almost certainly be offered as a lower-priced version with a four-cylinder, turbocharged engine, a necessary step for volume sales. But with a history of temperamental mechanicals, the Italian automaker has to make sure its reliability is at least middling, if not excellent, to keep interest. No prices have yet been set, but it should sit around the M3's starting point of $74,000 in Canada, if not a little higher, selling from dedicated Alfa dealerships in Oakville, Windsor and Vaughn in Ontario, along with Quebec City, Montreal and Vancouver.
The sedan is expected to arrive later next year. In the meantime, Alfa is focussing on reviving that familiar Italian passion, lost for decades from an historic marque that has been trying to simply compete against the mainstream in Europe for decades. "Being different means rediscovering your identity," said Marchionne in Italian through a translator. "We can finally say today, it's the first day of the new era of Alfa. The brand is on the verge of retaking its rightful position in the market; it will once again become one of the leading symbols of Italian engineering and style, an icon of Italian's technological excellence and creative spirit."
Italians and driving aficionados everywhere are hoping he's right.
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