According to reports out of Europe, citing industry sources, the production of the Alfa Romeo Giulia has been delayed because the vehicle has failed internal crash tests.
The supplier spoke to Automotive News Europe and said that the model has not passed front, side or rear crash tests. That has led to major re-engineering of the vehicle, which is prolonging development time by several months.
Earlier reports had the delay, until mid-2016, was because the automaker was modifying the Giulia’s ride characteristics and safety features.
Road & Track reports, however, that Alfa Romeo is denying the report of failed tests. A spokesperson told them that FCA will begin production of the Giulia for North in “late 2nd quarter 2016.”
In order to help fix any problems with the Giulia and other models, FCA has re-hired Roberto Fedeli, who had left the company for BMW just over a year ago.
Fedeli will be chief technical officer at Alfa Romeo and Maserati.