Alfa Romeo Giulia Sportwagon killed off

Alfa Romeo has killed off plans to produce a Giulia wagon variant, citing the Alfa Romeo Stelvio SUV for its change of heart.

A Giulia Sportwagon was hypothesised by the Italian brand as recently as October last year as a potential competitor for the BMW 3 Series Touring, Audi A4 Avant and Mercedes-Benz C-Class Estate, all of which are sold in Australia.

However, Alfa’s need to focus on the next stage of its product development and its belief in the driver appeal, sales potential and practicality of its high-riding Stelvio SUV has seen the brand move away from the idea.

“We decided not to do a Giulia Sportwagon,” Alfredo Altavilla, CEO FCA Europe, told CAR Magazine.

“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 [wagon].”

The decision mirrors a choice made by Mercedes-Benz Australia, which opted not to bring in the Mercedes-AMG E63 Estate due to buyer demand for SUVs, like the GLE63, instead.

Fast wagons are most popular in the UK and Europe where a high performance Alfa Romeo Giulia QV wagon with the same 375kW/600Nm 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 as the sedan would likely have found its primary market, sandwiched between the Mercedes-AMG C63 and Audi RS4 wagons.

Is Alfa’s resistance to a speedy wagon of its own justified? From a purely business point of view, it seems the writing is on the wall – wagons have been falling out of favour for a while, while SUV stock continues to swell. Putting money behind a performance SUV variant makes sense if you’re looking to make money – no matter what wagon aficionados may say.