Is Alfa Romeo a luxury car brand?

If Alfa Romeo wants to be considered a genuine luxury automotive brand it must win over the minds – not just the hearts – of Australian prestige car buyers, which is easier said than done.

Alfa Romeo has had plenty of ups and downs in the last few decades and although there’s no denying the storied Italian car-maker is an upmarket brand, is it truly a luxury brand?

“Yes definitely. We have every feature and every right to make that claim,” declared Alfa Romeo Australia’s medium and large vehicle product manager, Rick Crichton.

But Alfa Romeo has only three models available via just nine dealerships Down Under at present and the public perception around whether Alfa Romeo is a bona-fide rival for established German luxury brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz remains far from clear-cut.

Sales figures suggest there’s little love for the Italian auto brand in Australia, where Alfa Romeo has sold just 181 cars so far in 2023 – well below Audi (7495), BMW (9464) and Mercedes-Benz (10,216).

The historic European car-maker knows it needs to lift its sales and brand value, and its first all-new model in six years – the 2023 Alfa Romeo Tonale small SUV – aims to do just that by stealing ‘conquest’ sales from its premium German rivals.

“When you’re talking about luxury sedans and luxury SUVs there’s a lot of well-established players and they’ve got really good brand loyalty. Those badges do have a value,” said Crichton.

“So our cars need to do a job in helping us to continue growing the brand and that involves conquesting share from others.”

Alfa’s local product manager concedes that job won’t be easy but that updated Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia models, which have been revised and repositioned to deliver improved value and more luxury features, will play their part.

“They are such fantastic cars and they need to be on more people’s shopping lists. [But] If I had the silver bullet answer I’d probably be the big boss,” said Crichton, who argued the new models deliver significantly better value than their German rivals.

As well as new front-end designs with restyled adaptive matrix LED headlights, the 2023 Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia get updated interiors including a new 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster.

“We’ve also made items that were previously optional – valuable items – now standard in the price of the vehicle without adjusting the price of that car,” said Crichton.

“So the value equation is really leaps and bounds in the right direction,” he said of the top-spec Veloce variants, which now include the Lusso Pack as standard, adding a 14-speaker Harman Kardon audio system and way more leather upholstery.

“We’ve got a job to do in communicating this story to people and… getting information out there. We just need to make sure that if people are considering a luxury sedan or a luxury SUV, that Alfa Romeo is within that consideration set.

“And when people start doing their lower funnel activities and jumping on our website, other manufacturers websites, reading the reviews… I think at that point the value equation is hopefully going to become very apparent for them.”

All Stelvio and Giulia models are now equipped with a 206kW/400Nm 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine and an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Facelifted iterations of the high-performance Giulia and Stelvio Quadrifoglio flagships will arrive here in the fourth quarter of 2023 brandishing carryover Ferrari-developed 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6s that generate BMW M3-bashing levels of power and torque (375kW/600Nm).

“A car purchase can be a very emotional decision. We’ve now made the improvements to make it the logical and rational decision as well,” said Crichton.

“So hopefully the two parts of your brain – your emotional and your rational – they’re both going to add up and make complete sense as to why an Alfa would be a really smart choice.”

How much does the 2023 Alfa Romeo Stelvio cost?
Ti – $76,450
Veloce – $82,950
* Prices exclude on-road costs

How much does the 2023 Alfa Romeo Giulia cost?
Ti – $68,450
Veloce – $74,950
* Prices exclude on-road costs

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