Alfa Romeo is pinning a lot of its hopes upon the success of their newest car, the Giulia sedan, which it hopes will be a worthy competitor and alternative in the eyes of customers against the likes of the BMW 3 Series, Mercedes-Benz C Class, and Audi A4.
The Giulia is due to be available first in certain European countries before becoming more widespread at dealerships across the globe, and as such, has recently undergone mandatory safety testing by the Euro NCAP.
As I’m sure the folks at FCA and Alfa Romeo were monitoring with bated breath, the Giulia emerged with a very assuring full 5-star safety rating. The new Alfa scored a 98 percent for adult occupant safety, an 81 percent for child occupants, 69 percent for pedestrian protection, and finally a 60 percent for standard safety assist equipment.
In all the potential points of injury within the adult and child occupant tests – which includes the Frontal Offside Deformable Barrier test, Frontal Full Width impact, Whiplash rear impact, and lateral impact tests – the Giulia received a ‘Good’ rating in the injury index, indicating marginal risk of injury.
For the adult occupant tests, Euro NCAP commented:
The passenger compartment remained stable in the frontal offset test. Dummy readings indicated good protection of the knees and femurs of both the driver and front passenger. Alfa Romeo showed that a similar level of protection was provided to occupants of different sizes and to those sat in different positions. In the full-width rigid barrier impact, good protection was provided to all critical body areas of both the driver and the rear passenger, and the Giulia scored maximum points. Full points were scored, too, in the side barrier test, all critical parts of the body being well protected. In the more severe side pole impact, good protection was provided to all body areas except the chest, protection of which was adequate. Tests of the front seats and head restraints showed demonstrated good protection against whiplash injury in the event of a rear-end collision, and a geometric assessment of the rear seats also indicated good whiplash protection. The Giulia has an autonomous emergency braking system as standard and tests showed it provided good protection against whiplash injuries in low-speed accidents, successfully avoiding impact in all of Euro NCAP's tests.
For the child occupant tests, Euro NCAP commented:
In the frontal offset and side barrier tests, both dummies were properly restrained throughout the impacts. In the frontal test, protection was good or adequate except for the chest of the 6 year dummy, for which dummy measurements of deceleration indicated marginal protection. In the side barrier test, protection of all critical body areas was good for both the 6 and 10 year children. The front passenger airbag can be disabled to allow a rearward-facing restraint to be used in that seating position. Clear information is provided to the driver regarding the status of the airbag and the system was rewarded. In Euro NCAP's installation tests, all restraints could be properly installed and accommodated by the Giulia except for the rear centre seat which Alfa Romeo say is unsuitable for universal restraints.
FCA has yet to announce Australian availability or specifications for their Giulia sedan but should be reaching our shores sometime within early 2017. And when that does happen, Alfa Romero will likely include Autonomous Emergency Braking as part of the car’s suite of standard active safety equipment.
For more on Alfa Romeo vehicles, including pricing and specifications, check out our Showroom.
