An Alfa Romeo Giulia Estate Isn't Happening, And It's All The Stelvio's Fault
If you were looking forward to the prospect of a wagon-bodied Alfa Romeo Giulia, we have some bad news: it’s not going to happen.
Speaking to Car magazine, Alfa Romeo manufacturing chief Alfredo Altavilla confirmed what estate-obsessed petrolheads across the world won’t want to hear. “We decided not to do a Giulia Sportwagon,” he said, adding: “Do we really need it if the Stelvio SUV drives that well? Maybe not…Stelvio can capture all the people who would otherwise have been interested in the SW.”
In short, the chance of a Giulia Sportwagon appearing as anything other than a render has been killed off by the Stelvio SUV. This isn’t all that surprising, as the rise in SUV sales has coincided with a fall in demand for premium estates. Last year for instance Ian Callum said that a Jaguar XE Sportbrake wouldn’t happen due to low demand. And Jaguar’s best selling car is? Why, it’s the F-Pace SUV, of course.
Regardless, the Stelvio doesn’t seem like such a bad substitute, and we’re looking forward to trying it out soon. All we need to do is purge our memories of all those gorgeous Giulia Sportwagon renders…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
No, the Stelvio will not “capture” those that would buy a SW. SUV’s are for soccer moms and a very small population that would buy a wagon would buy an SUV, in fact
This should’ve been a happy occasion, let’s not bicker and argue about who killed who
It’s a matter of what will sell versus what won’t. Sure it looks cool, but not a lot of people will buy it to justify the production cost. It would just be obsessed over by people who won’t buy one.
God dammit I was gonna sell a kidney to buy that aswell…
So
BMW X3/X5 exists. So does 3-series/5-series wagon
Audi Q5/8 exist. So do A4/A6 Avant and Allroad
Merc GLA/GLC/GLE exist. So do CLA/C-class/E-class wagons
Therefore, Alfa’s argument is officially not valid
Not quite - Alfa is in the process of scaling up its production massively, so doing an Audi/Merc etc and having a MASSIVE range with all sorts of niches filled wouldn’t be feasible, as much as I adore the idea of a Giulia Quadrifoglio Sportwagon!
They made the Stelvio because it appeals to a larger public. This is one of the cars that will save them from being bankrupt again. An estate Giulia? How many people would buy that when SUV sales are booming? If you would’ve gotten the estate Giulia, you couldn’t of enjoyed that too much, because they’d face bankruptcy again. They want to do cars that will be bought by many, and an estate Giulia would of only appealed to a small amount of petrolheads (that didn’t have the money for it anyway) and a few dog owners. You’re crying after something that was never promised or even planned. Enjoy your cars for now.
We understand it from a business point of view, but it’s still a shame. Especially as the main competitors seem to get much more body styles out of a single platform. The 3 series comes in the shape of a sedan, coupe, wagon, convertible and they have the GT.
How much r&d would making it a wagon really have cost anyways? Most wagons are exactly the same as the sedans from the gas cap forward.
i don’t think so because wagons are in europe, mostly france, germany, switzerland and such still very popular. for example you see way more A4 estates than saloons
SUV’s in general are too tall, too wobly, too thirsty, and has too little space inside (The Ford Kuga has a boot almost as small as a Golf…)
No. Give me a proper estate instead. Lower center of gravity, better handling, bigger space, and more often than not, cheaper to run as well…
Well, the Kuga is based on the Focus, so that isn’t suprising at all.
Agreed. I’m a wagon guy. Had to check out a a previous generation XC90 for a friend the other day. Man was it cramped. I was genuinly surprised, it’s this huge hunk of metal, but it was smaller than my old E46 Touring inside. Sure it was taller, but it still felt really cramped. Give me a wagon any day.
Boo!!!!!!
Its a car we all want but apparently we wont buy!!!!