Over the last 100 years, Alfa Romeo have established themselves as a brand with real integrity when it comes to producing reliable yet stylish cars. The classic Alfa Romeo Giulietta has been part of the range since the late 1950s and has recently been reimagined into a cool, stand-out model in the current line-up of available hatchbacks.

This is an extremely good-looking car, with sleek contours making for a smooth, sporty finish. Alfa Romeo have also added some neat touches to the interior, including a refrigerated glove compartment, start/stop technology, parking sensors and a six-speaker CD/MP3 capable stereo system. Passengers have enough room in the back to ride comfortably, and there’s ample storage space in the boot.

In terms of engine power, the 2.0 JTDm it mounts is certainly worth the money, giving an excellent performance over all sorts of road conditions. The 1.6 engine also offers a nippy performance for fantastic running costs.  While the Alfa TCT gearbox takes a while to warm up, once it’s going it makes for a very smooth, pleasurable ride.

Alfa Romeo have recently been testing the Giulietta in China, after applying for a Chinese patent way back in November 2011. The car was showcased at last year’s Beijing motor show alongside the Fiat Viaggio. Whilst the Viaggio will be built within the country, the Giulietta will be imported into China to compete with other market-leading hatchbacks such at the Volkswagon Scirocco and the BMW 1-series. The car will be sold through the Guangzhou-Fiat dealer network.

As an import, the car will cost slightly more than those being produced within the country, which poses a slight problem since Alfa Romeo is a rather new brand in the Chinese market. However, given Giulietta’s stylish attributes, it’s surely only a matter of time until it takes off in the Asian market.