The new Alfa Giulietta
has made it into the final shortlist of seven cars vying
to become Car of the Year 2011 and in doing so
emulate its successful predecessor, the Alfa 147, which
scooped the prestigious award exactly a decade ago.
Today the organisers reduced the initial list of 41 cars
to just 7 with the new C-segment five-door Alfa Romeo up
against a range of cars such as Nissan's electric Leaf,
Ford's new C-Max and Dacia's low-cost SUV, the Duster.
The award requires new
cars to available now or soon in five or more European
markets, and each to have the prospect of at least 5,000
yearly sales. The voting process has two stages. The
first one, which has just concluded, produced the final
short list of seven nominees. The second round will find
the single winner that will be made known on November
29th, 2010. The Giulietta will aim to emulate the 147
which won the Car Of the Year award in 2001 as well as
the Alfa 156 which came out on top three years earlier.
Most recently the Alfa 159 came third in 2006.
Named as a celebrated
model of the ‘50s that was the first mass-produced Alfa
Romeo, the Giulietta has risen to the occasion with a
nice style that doesn’t betray the expectations and with
a road attitude packed with agile handling and good
comfort. The 5-door model premieres a new ‘architecture’
in Fiat Group devised to enhance structural stiffness,
weight containment, noise suppression and climate
control. Despite the coupe-like roof line, cabin and
boot are reasonably ample. The results in Euro NCAP are
the best of a compact car so far. The Giulietta has an
assorted engine offering, including the efficient 1.4
MultiAir with hydraulic valve actuation and 170 hp. All
engines have the Start&Stop device as standard, except
the sporty 1750 TB (235 hp).
The Alfa Giulietta is up
against six
other new models for the Car of the Year 2011
award: Citroën's new C3/DS3 making the shortlist
reflects an improvement in the French company's small
model portfolio, Dacia's Duster is a low-cost SUV with a
105 bhp engine and the option of 4x4; Ford's new C-Max
(and 7-seater Grand C-Max) previews the next-generation
Focus due next year and will be one of 10 models
eventually spun off the global C-platform, Nissan's
electric Leaf sees zero-emission power impressing the
judges to make it this far and has to be a strong
candidate for a surprise win, Vauxhall/Opel's new Meriva
utilises the underpinnings of its bigger MPV sister, the
Zafira, in
an attempt to push the small MPV segment forward, while
the final contender is Volvo's new S60/V60 which was
developed under the Swedish brand's previous owners,
Ford, and busily raids its parts bin, but is now a
shortlist contender from the Chinese owned company.
