Geneva show: Fresh Alfa Romeo Giulietta revealed

ALFA Romeo has offered a first look at its refreshed Giulietta hatchback ahead of the Geneva motor show next week, revealing styling updates which echo its full-sized Giulia sedan stablemate.

Expected to land in Australia in Q3 2016, the new Giulietta will arrive with minimal exterior changes which include a revised front-end with honeycomb lower grille, redesigned headlights, refreshed foglight housings and new bumper inserts finished in piano black with red highlights on sportier variants.

New badges also adorn the facelifted Italian hatchback, with Alfa Romeo’s latest logo displayed on the front and rear, while a new font Giuilietta badge sits on the rear bootlid.

Redesigned alloy wheels, new tail pipes and two new exterior colours, Alfa White and Lipari Grey, round out the exterior styling tweaks to the small-car which, according to Alfa, “emphasises the Giulietta’s close genetic links with the new Alfa Romeo Giulia sports saloon”.

Styling parallels will be easy to draw when the Italian car-maker debuts its tamer Giulia range next to the revised Giulietta at this year’s Geneva motor show. The Giulia sedan is expected in Australian showrooms in late 2016 and will bolster Alfa Romeo’s slimmed-down product line, representing the third model for sale after the Giulietta hatchback and 4C sports coupe.

Inside the cabin, the fresh Giulietta receives new seat upholstery, a refreshed dashboard and new door panel finishes to differentiate it from last year’s model.

Overseas markets will also get the combination of 89kW 1.6-litre JTDM-2 turbo diesel engine with Alfa’s TCT twin dry-clutch transmission – a first for the hatchback range.

However, Alfa Romeo does not offer any diesel engines in its local Giulietta range, with Australian cars being powered by either a 1.4- or a 1.8-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine.

Pricing for the new model is not yet available, but Australia’s current Giulietta range opens at $29,000, before on-road costs, for the 88kW/215Nm 1.4-litre Progression and tops out at $42,000 for the spicy 177kW/340Nm 1.8-litre Quadrifoglio Verde (QV) hot hatch.

Sales for Alfa Romeo’s Giulietta have been slow this year, with only 53 vehicles sold in January, down from the 58 units sold year on year.

In 2015, Alfa sold 1272 Giuliettas, a significant 43.9 per cent drop from 2014’s 2268 units sold. In comparison, fellow European small hatchback competitors Peugeot’s 308 and Renault’s Megane sold 1491 and 1426 units in 2015 respectively.

At this stage it is unclear whether a fresh look will lift Giulietta sales, but Fiat Chrylser Autombiles (FCA) Australia senior manager of corporate communications Andrew Chesterton said the new vehicle is generating positive local buzz.

“It is a truly stunning vehicle, we’re very excited about it, we expect our customers to be as well,” he said.