Everyone knows it’s a bad time to buy anything, new or used. Except for an Alfa Romeo, because it’s always a good time to buy an Alfa Romeo. A few brands are still recording average transaction prices below MSRP even in this climate, and wouldn’t you know — the Italian luxury marque is at the top of the list.
It doesn’t matter whether you opt for the Giulia or Stelvio; the typical Alfa went for $3,421 under sticker during the month of January, Edmunds reported last week. The Giulia’s strongest year to date in the U.S. was 2018, when 11,519 examples of the sport sedan were moved, per Car Sales Base. By comparison, BMW shifted 44,578 3 Series here that same year.
So far, 2021 has been the worst year on record for the Giulia, with just 7,634 sold. And that’s not just because of the supply chain shortage, because some cars — like the 3 Series — celebrated banner years in ’21. The Stelvio SUV has unsurprisingly fared better than its sedan counterpart. With 10,539 shifted, last year was the Stelvio’s second best since hitting showrooms in 2017.
Now, the Giulia is a fun car — especially the Quadrifoglio. But it also has a reputation for unreliability, and that’s not just me parroting the eternal Alfa talking point to vaguely fumble at an excuse for why this car is underperforming commercially. It’s depressing to think that the brand disappeared from our shores for two decades just to return with essentially the same image problem that forced it to bail in the first place, but here we are. I know there will be a handful of content owners of problem-free Giulias and Stelvios in the comments — I’m happy for you, really. Poor quality is often a problem of perception more than reality anyway.
The silver lining to this is that if you aren’t concerned about reliability or are encouraged by Alfa’s somewhat generous four-year, 50,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty, you can still save money on one of its products in a way that’s practically impossible at any other dealership. The other brands that recently averaged transaction prices below MSRP include Mini, BMW, Lincoln, Volvo and — surprisingly — Ram, though none of those struck anywhere close to the depth of Alfa’s four-digit discounts.
This is more or less the position Alfa has been in since prices started steeply rising almost two years ago. No matter what happens in the world, no matter how upside down the economy gets, you can always probably get a solid deal on one.