Alfa Romeo Giulietta ending production this year – report
Thus with a kiss it dies, Alfa Romeo ending production of its Giulietta after almost a decade.
Star-crossed lover Juliet met her tragic demise at the end of Shakespeare’s play (spoiler alert), and the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, too, will soon expire.
Club Alfa reports Alfa Romeo’s smallest, cheapest model will end production this year.
Production at the Cassino factory is expected to first wind down from 70 units each day to 40 before ending entirely later in the year.
Replacing it on the Cassino assembly line will be a new Maserati SUV, sharing its Giorgio platform with the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio and slotting in under the Maserati Levante.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles first revealed in 2017 the Giulietta and defunct MiTo hatchbacks wouldn’t be replaced, though there were rumblings of a Giorgio-based Giulietta.
FCA, however, has since taken an axe to the Turin brand’s future product plans, with only the Giulia, Stelvio, and a couple of smaller SUVs surviving the cull.
Among the casualties include a new GTV, 8C and a large crossover.
The merger with Groupe PSA theoretically gives FCA access to newer platforms for compact cars and crossovers, however Alfa Romeo may choose to focus on small and theoretically more profitable crossovers.
According to its most recent five-year plan, Alfa Romeo will start production of its C-segment SUV, the Tonale, in 2021, followed by its B-segment SUV in 2022.
The Tonale will feature a plug-in hybrid variant, while the smaller SUV will be available as a battery-electric model.
Unlike Juliet, who died at a tragically young age, the Alfa Romeo Giulietta has had a long and fruitful life.
First introduced in 2011 to replace the 147, the Giulietta became the entry-level Alfa Romeo upon the MiTo’s discontinuation last year (2016 in Australia).
It’s received some minor facelifts along the way, along with sporadic range re-shuffles.
Sales have declined, however, with just 169 sold here last year. In 2012, Alfa Romeo sold 610 examples.
The drop has been even more precipitous in Europe, the Giulietta’s key market. After several years of relatively steady sales, the Giulietta plummeted to just 15,690 units in 2019.
In its first full year of sales, 2011, Alfa Romeo sold 78,911 Giuliettas in Europe.
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