In a meeting in a large building somewhere a short while back, a startlingly bad decision was made. This decision rivalled another startlingly bad decision when Nissan named a car the Cedric. For reasons beyond reason, the normally refined Alfa Romeo had named their new concept car the Gloria.
Ironically, as if calling a car Cedric wasn’t bad enough, Nissan too called a car Gloria which was the sportier version of the Cedric. Although that’s where the comparisons end, Nissan’s Gloria does not look like Alfa Romeo’s Gloria.
Currently Alfa Romeo has a bit of a gap in their roster as far as executive saloons go, a gap that the company is planning to fill in 2014 with the new Giulia.
The Gloria is the end result of ideas conceived within the Alfa Romeo Style Centre along with Master in Transportation Design students based at the European Design Institute in Turin.
The Gloria would be powered by a bi-turbo V6 or V8 engine, while emphasis has been placed on interior space and comfort. This was essentially the student’s project with guidance and advice from Alfa Romeo.
Lorenzo Ramaciotti is the head of Fiat & Chrysler Design, he says: “..we commented, discussed and guided the projects in order to get the most from their spontaneous expressions of creativity.” Although he did stop short of saying that Alfa gave any advice regarding the name.
The Giulia will rival the Audi A4 and BMW 3-series and will be part of the Alfa Romeo revival plan that Fiat hope will launch the brand back into the forefront of our minds when it comes to making purchasing decisions.
The Giulia will have the luxury of being powered by petrol engines exclusive to Alfa it was announced by Sergio Marchionne, the head of Fiat Group. As part of the revival plan, Alfa is to benefit from a range of Alfa-only engines going forward.
The final look and name is not yet set in stone, although we should expect to hear an announcement at the end of the summer or autumn. Don’t be surprised to hear of a name change as Giulia I can confirm, is not something that flows onto the page too easily. Pricing is expected to begin at around £22,000.
The Gloria concept car will feature at the forthcoming Geneva Motor Show, which runs from the 7th to 17th of March this year.
Images from panorama-auto.it and diseno-art.com
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