L’Unione
Italiana Giornalisti dell'Automotive (UIGA) has
handed Alfa Romeo's new Giulietta its first major award,
voting it Auto Europa 2011, meaning that it is
the second time in three years that the Italian brand
has claimed the prestigious prize from Italy's leading
automotive specialist journalists. This year was the
25th edition of the awards of the Turin-based UIGA which
was founded in 1954.
In the end the list of
41 contenders for the "2011" prize came down to a final
showdown for the title between the new five-door
hatchback Giulietta, which has has this year replaced
the long-running Alfa 147 in C-segment, and Citroën's
DS3, however the former eased clear to eventually
collect 349 points to the French car's 300 points. A
very distant third place went to another Gallic
creation, Peugeot's RCZ, which picked up 125 points,
while the top-five was completed by Volvo's S60 (122
points) and BMW 5-series sedan (100 points).
This is
the fifth time that Alfa Romeo has won the "Auto Europa"
award and comes very soon after the B-segment MiTo hatchback
won just two years ago. The other three winners for Alfa
Romeo were the 166 (1999), 156 (1998) and 164 (1988). To
qualify for the award consideration a car has to have been
on sale within the 27 member states of the EU since
September 1 back to the previous August 31 and to have been
manufactured during that period in a quantity of at least
10,000 units.
According to the jury, the
Giulietta came out on top in three of the five main judging
categories: "design and aerodynamics", "performance, fuel
economy and emissions" and "technology, safety and
innovation". The President of the UIGA, Pierluigi Bonora,
described the revival of the Giulietta name tag as a
"renaissance in modern terms". He added that: "This model,
preferred by members of the union, combines the best of
Italian style and technology that is made-in-Turin and
addresses both greater efficiency and improved security."
