[Biscione1750]

I saw this linked to in another forum and it sheds some light on the recent news about failed crash tests:

All the gossip from the Geneva motor show | Top Gear

"We ask him about a report in a well-sourced industry newspaper that the car was delayed because it failed crash tests. He looks TG dead in the eye and calmly raises a single finger in the air.

So we ask him for a quote. “Nothing of this is true. Absolutely nothing. When it [the story] was written, we had homologation in the US and Europe and we had five stars. The only thing we were working on was the very difficult small-overlap test.” He explains they were trying to get a common structure that would work both for the Giulia and the next new Alfa, a heavier crossover. And they succeeded."

And for anyone who's curious about the small-overlap test:

Midsize SUVs have mixed small overlap results

 

[sotbak]

I don't think there will be such problem. Passive safety on GIUILIA'S category is more or less the same with all the participants of the sector.

 

[Biscione1750]

I don't think it will be a problem either. He was saying what the problem was and that it has now been resolved.

 

[sotbak]

I don't think it will be a problem either. He was saying what the problem was and that it has now been resolved.

By the way, in Australia are you interested in the new GIULIA range or the GIULIA QV especially, or you consider this as a mainly European model?

 

[GiuliettaJS]

I don't think it will be a problem either. He was saying what the problem was and that it has now been resolved.

Doesn't sound like there ever was a problem.
They delayed the small overlap test while they continued their internal design/engineering on the crash structure.

Alfa Romeo in "designing and engineering stuff takes a certain amount of time" shock news story...

Nothing to see here.

 

[Papa Gallo]

By the way, in Australia are you interested in the new GIULIA range or the GIULIA QV especially, or you consider this as a mainly European model?

Australia has a tradition of muscle/performance/sports car enthusiasts, there is a lot of interest in the QV across many forums, and a few dealers have taken deposits sight unseen, price unknown, whether that translates to actual sales is hard to tell, however the interest is there. There is also a more grounded interest in the mainstream models, however as is ALWAYS the case in Australia, we ALWAYS get shafted on price so a lot will depend on how we are treated.

The 4C is very popular here and has sold well, i dont expect the QV to be any different

bring us these cars now!!!!!!!!!

 

[Giorget2]

however as is ALWAYS the case in Australia, we ALWAYS get shafted on price so a lot will depend on how we are treated.

Didn't the Aussie government take away the import taxes that they levied for decades to keep the Holden and Ford factories in business?

The factories have all closed down, haven't they? (Or are going to at the end of current production runs?)
If so, then there should be no more rent-seekers (apart from the government itself looking for tax revenue) to support the import taxes and they should be repealed, leading to lower car prices for Aussies.

Aha, just Googled it and this came up: Cars are about to get a whole lot cheaper in Australia | Business Insider

Looks like I was wrong about rent-seekers not being in the picture anymore. The complainers are already wailing like babies: "However, the major car companies selling in Australia aren’t pleased with the proposed changes, with Tony Weber, CEO of the industry industry body the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) condemning them."

Cry, Tony Weber, cry! Cry for big daddy Government to make people give you their money! :furious:

 

[Papa Gallo]

yes, interesting times ahead, it means we can import a RHD UK QV if it is viable, and from the sounds of that article it will be interesting to see if real world figures match the speculation

we have a Luxury Car Tax that severely inflates the price of any reasonable imported car, currently raised by about $1300 to 63,184 which effectively only managed to see about $400 reduction in a Porsche, for example

Porsche passes LCT savings to customers with reduced pricing ? UPDATE

as a comparison, the last 2.4 Ti 159 retailed for AUD $62,000, Alfa had a runout discount to get it under the LCT of $59,000 at the time ... at todays exchange rate that translates to 31,000 GBP, what were they here ?

No Aussie car manufacturing as the Abbott government refused to subsidise local manufacturers for what 25Million,

Toyota was first to announce then Ford then Holden (GM)


edit: then there is the question of warranty if you import from the UK, unless there is co-operation manufacturers may not honour an international warranty. About a year or so ago we had an influx of South African spec (quasi) Ti 3.2 V6's...i say quasi as they were not fully kitted Ti's, they didnt have the side skirts or Ti leather seats, however they were brought in by Alfa (or the distributor at least) and i remember my dealer telling me they had to really dig hard at Alfa to convince them to offer a manufacturers warranty... i cant imagine having to send it back to the UK to have a brake light replaced lol

 

[Giorget2]

No Aussie car manufacturing as the Abbott government refused to subsidise local manufacturers for what 25Million,

Toyota was first to announce then Ford then Holden (GM)

It would have likely been figures in the billions, not millions. A million isn't even money.

But the subsidies were likely to have been only the tip of the iceberg.
What usually happens is that governments put import taxes on the imported cars to artificially inflate the prices of the imported cars.
Some people stop thinking about it there, thinking: "So what? Then just buy a Holden or Ford or Toyota!"

Problem is, the point of inflating the price of an imported car that would have cost $20 000 to $30 000 is really to enable the local producer to produce a car for $25 000 and then sell it at $29 000 and remain competitive.

The point of such import taxes is precisely to enable the rent-seeking local manufacturers to be complacent and still pocket lots of money. Also works well for the politicians, because they can claim that it "saves jobs" and point to the big car factory. Never mind the other people going under because their customers don't have money to buy their products because they had to spend it all on a overpriced car!

It's the old story of concentrated benefits and diffuse costs.

 

[Giorget2]

South African spec (quasi) Ti 3.2 V6's...i say quasi as they were not fully kitted Ti's, they didnt have the side skirts or Ti leather seats,

In South Africa the Ti cars did come with side-skirts, but with alcantara seats with red piping, not leather. They did not come standard with the 19-inch thin-spoke alloys (might have been an option - I know some like that do exist in SA), but with turbine alloys like the GQV, usually coloured black.

 

[Papa Gallo]

In South Africa the Ti cars did come with side-skirts, but with alcantara seats with red piping, not leather. They did not come standard with the 19-inch thin-spoke alloys (might have been an option - I know some like that do exist in SA), but with turbine alloys like the GQV, usually coloured black.

there was something else as well, i think the calipers were grey instead of red,? (or was it the pedals? ) anyway ...

not sure where that 25Mill figure came from, might have been our states contribution but yes it was billions

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-02/holden-reveals-billions-in-subsidies/4604558


anyway, sorry for the off topic, but yes, we are very interested in the Giulia QV ;-)

 

[Giorget2]

there was something else as well, i think the calipers were grey instead of red,

Hmmm, the ones I know here all have red calipers.

 

[Papa Gallo]

Hmmm, the ones I know here all have red calipers.

LOL

0 for 2, there was something that distinguished them apart from the seats, i think the pedals were black compound instead of silver metal ?

 

[Giorget2]

Haha, well I think you are 0 for 3 now, as once again, all the 159 Ti cars I have seen in South Africa (but I obviously have not seen them all) do have metal pedals.