Now, don’t get me wrong – I want Alfa Romeo to succeed just like the next person. If that means they need to copy from the best, well, so be it. But in their rush to finish the Giulia in time (the development took a record 26 months) I feel that Alfa’s designers borrowed a little too liberally, copying the good stuff as well as the bad, and not just from the car you are already thinking of…
First, the elephant in the room: the Giulia’s overall shape is very heavily influenced by the BMW 3-series.
Sure, they may have tried not to be too blatant, modifying the shape of the rear window line not to copy the Hofmeister kink, but in doing so they actually veered altogether too close to another car influenced by the 3-series: the now-supplanted Infiniti G35, especially around the rear haunches.
But hey, it does not stop there – look at the Giulia’s rear lights and you could swear you’ve seen that shape before…
… and you have, many times, so generic is that shape, but it’s arguably closest to Kia’s shapely Optima:
You have to wonder if Alfa’s designers could not have tried a bit harder to make the rear look more original, maybe even incorporate a round motif somewhere in there (they’re Italian after all!), especially that they’ve produced one of the best-looking rears in the recent past:
OK, rant over, time to go back and oogle the Giulia, wondering how I can convince my wife that a 500hp super-sedan will make sensible family transportation…
