This is the latest award for the new Giulietta, the in-house designed C-segment five door hatchback that replaced the decade-old Alfa 147 in Alfa Romeo's showrooms earlier this year, and follows on from three recent award wins: Auto Europa 2011 by the L’Union Italienne des Journalistes Automobiles (UIGA), Auto Trophy 2010 (Design Trophy - Compact Category) by German's Auto Zeitung and Voiture de l’Année 2011 from République Tchèque. The Giulietta also came home a close second to Nissan's innovative electric Leaf in the most important of all European awards, the Car of the Year 2011.

The criteria that the Trophée L'Argus jury examined included purchase price, running costs, depreciation and resale value, active and passive safety, road handling and comfort, as well as personal preference. In running out the winner of the Compact Car of the Year category the Giulietta, which was examined by the French magazine in its 1.6 JTDM turbodiesel with 105 CV format, beat off stiff opposition from Citroën's new-generation C4 which was marked up for both its overall design and the originality of its cabin. The hybrid Toyota Prius was the other strong contender, however the judges were not impressed by its residuals in France, it loses half its purchase value in three years, and it was thus the Giulietta, which stood apart for its all round qualities, that ran out the winner.

The award for the Giulietta was handed over by the Chairman of the Argus Group, Alexandrine Breton de Loÿs. The other award winners this year included Suzuki's Swift which defeated the Chevrolet Spark and Nissan Micra to become "City Car of the Year", Dacia's low-cost Duster SUV beat the Kia Sportage and Opel Meriva to win the "Family Car of the Year" gong, while Citroën's new DS3 came out on top of the Peugeot RCZ and Honda CR-Z to win the award for setting the new fashion trend of 2010 and BMW's 520d was chosen ahead of the VW Touareg and Mercedes Classe E cabriolet in the category reserved for large cars.