The Alfa Romeo possessing most potential for the company car sector has missed its chance
The fleet market is surprisingly fickle, suggests Iain Robertson, despite its mature and well-ordered stance, which allows some truly exceptional motorcars to slip through its corporate fingers, regardless of how well the carmakers stack the decks.
Although company cars, i.e. those purchased/acquired using company as opposed to private individual funding, which places them as depreciating assets on the firm’s balance sheet, are anything but a new concept, the UK business car market received its first major boost during the 1960s, a factor that made the Ford Cortina the Number One seller of the period. At the same time, the expense account era grew like Topsy.
The number of active young things engaged to sell biscuits, sweeties, toilet requisites and widgets of all types also grew immensely. Often fresh from education, they could be seen with a brand-new motorcar parked in their suburban driveways that they could neither afford to own, nor operate from their meagre salaries, even when bolstered by bonuses and commission incentives. The better the job, the better the car. Fairly soon, the car became the incentive.
Some of the more powerful employers would place specific demands on car manufacturers. Extra equipment was added, working from a belief that the ‘up-market’ model would make the employee more grateful and happier in the role. Some even sported non-standard colour combinations. The benefit to the retail sector was substantial, with heaters being replaced by air-con units, electric windows being standardised and sportier options being produced for the members of staff higher up a pecking order.
At a certain stage in the maturing of the fleet sector (late-1970s), the tipping point was reached, where more company cars were registered in the UK than privately owned examples. The government talked frequently about 55%+ constituting annual company car registrations, although the true figure was somewhat closer to 80% and growing, not that government recognised it and the SMMT (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders), the motor industry’s lobbying body, was only too contented for many years to promote the former figure. While the manufacturing benefit to the UK was immense, which led to Ford at Dagenham, Vauxhall at Luton and Rootes Group and Austin-Rover, in the West Midlands, becoming stalwarts of the company car scene, the market soon expanded to allow the Japanese and other nationalities to be represented in the corporate car parc. Corporate choice was king.
By 2016 and the introduction of the new Alfa Romeo Giulia to the UK market, our original manufacturing ‘giants’ had all but shut-up shop, replaced by Nissan, Toyota and Honda. Alfa had listened and watched very carefully. Its all-new Giulia (pronounced the same as the girl’s name, Julia) was rear-wheel drive (like BMW). Its all-new Giulia was beautifully proportioned (like BMW). Its all-new Giulia was built sturdily (like BMW) and its boss, (at the time) Sergio Marchionne, was determined that it could offer competitive running costs and levels of reliability. Alfa was targeting the company car sector like never before.
In driving a recent mid-range turbo-petrol example, in Veloce trim, powered by a more than adequate, 277bhp 2.0-litre engine, which bristles with energy and drives through an 8-speed automatic gearbox, I can tell you that the Giulia performs strongly and feels every bit as good as an equivalent 4-Series, whether on-road, or reflecting at standstill on its build quality. It is such a handsome machine, hunkered down to the road surface on its 18.0-inch dark-chrome alloys, retaining an Italianate design studio appearance, with shut-lines as tight as any Audi. The Alfa Giulia lives up to the expectations of Sr. Marchionne (sadly no longer with us). Yet, its sales performance has been shockingly poor.
Of course, BMW, Merc and Audi virtually control the upper echelons of what used to be termed ‘the medium sector’, which makes it difficult for any renegade manufacturer to get a look in. While the Alfa badge has been ‘everything’ to the brand and mostly responsible for its much-vaunted charisma, it would be fair to state that unreliability, which blighted the earlier 156/159 model range, is a heavy hangover to overcome. Alfa enjoyed modest success in the UK with the 156 which was a comprehensive revision for the brand. Yet, the fleet market does appear to have rejected the Giulia, despite Sr. Marchionne’s strident message.
When Giulia first appeared four years ago, scarcely a negative word could be read around the nation’s motoring journals. It was the Alfa set to succeed. Pitched directly into the Teutonic Threesome’s back yard, with a judicious eye towards Jaguar and Lexus, it was set to change views, to alter long-held biases. It was even priced right. While the passing of Marchionne certainly did not help its cause, the formation of FCA and its various market distractions hindered it further.
The test car is listed at a competitive £37,935, much the same as equivalent models from its key rivals, although, were you to buy an example, you can rest assured that several thousand Pounds would be lopped from it. Considering its beautiful Nappa leather-lined cabin, with tasteful slivers of carbon trim and a tactile steering wheel, the Giulia is a class act. Its handling is deliciously entertaining, with enough torque (295lbs ft at 2,250rpm) to help steer the rear wheels, with supportive damping and a supremely comfortable ride quality…but it is largely unwanted.
While the UK fleet sector has changed a lot in recent times, weighed heavily by car taxation issues that have led to greater use of different ‘ownership’ propositions, the drawing-in of adventurous horns and the impact of the pandemic are also changing the work situation somewhat. For brands like Alfa Romeo, such actions could lead to its disappearance from our motoring scene, were it not for the Stelvio SUV model that continues to break new ground for the brand.
As for Giulia, if you are in the market for a good used car and a rare one at that, picking up a low mileage example that might be diesel, or petrol powered, or even the thunderously rapid V6 Quadrifoglio, might be an acceptable tip, as long as the price is right.