Alfa Romeo is in a bit of a pickle right now. The company’s two most important models, the Giulia sedan and the Stelvio SUV, are now both 10 years old. They were supposed to go out of production last year to make room for an all-electric crossover replacement.
Obviously, that didn’t happen. Back in October, a representative for the brand confirmed that both of the current cars would have their production extended into 2027. Alfa even went through the trouble of reviving the high-performance Quadrifoglio models for Europe.
The reason for that extension? Well, according to CEO Santo Ficili, Afla Romeo has essentially had to reengineer the new EV from scratch to accept gas powertrains following the EU’s decision to roll back its 2035 emissions rules. And that takes time.
It’s Basically A New Car
Ficili spilled the beans to U.K. publication Auto Express in an interview, revealing just how much work goes into converting a car that was previously supposed to be an EV to one that will accept a gas engine.
“We are changing our path because we were imagining Alfa Romeo’s future was electric-only, to respect the rules coming from Brussels,” Santo Ficili, the brand’s CEO, told Auto Express during an exclusive conversation in Belgium. But with consumers not flocking to EVs in the numbers predicted, the US withdrawing electric car incentives and the EU diluting demands for the new car market to be totally electric by 2035, Alfa Romeo has been forced to rip up its plans.
“We need to change everything,” explained Ficili. “We need to go from only-BEV to all the other powertrains. You can imagine what it means we need to change: to reinvent platforms, electronic architectures, connectivity of the car, not only for Alfa Romeo but all the [Stellantis group] brands.”
It’s hard to overstate how much of an undertaking this will be for Alfa. It’s not like they can move some stuff out of the area underneath the hood, plop in an engine, and call it a day. Because the current car is an EV and likely has a flat floor, there’s no central tunnel for the all-wheel drive powertrain or exhaust to go. There’s also no place for a fuel tank or fuel lines. A lot of the fundamental structure of the car has to be reconsidered, which is probably why Alfa is extending the current models until 2027.
This is, by my count, the third instance I’ve heard of a European automaker reengineering a fully electric vehicle to accept a gas engine after the fact. The first was the Fiat 500, which got a hybridized three-cylinder and a real, actual manual transmission. It’s not terribly quick, accelerating from 0-60 in 16 seconds, but according to my colleague Jason, that’s just fine.
The other car is Porsche’s successor to the mid-engine 718. For years, Porsche planned for this car to be an EV, with development of test mules running all the way back to 2019. But according to a report from December, the company is now re-engineering the car to accept a gas engine, necessitating a redesign of the rear half of the car.
The Changes Could Mean Hurricane-Powered Alfas
Ficili went on to confirm to Auto Express that the new, redesigned crossover will use Stellantis’s STLA Large platform, an architecture that can accept EV powertrains as well as longitudinally or transversely mounted gas engines. It underpins cars like the Dodge Charger, the Jeep Wagoneer S, and the new Jeep Cherokee. Seeing as how the new Charger uses the company’s Hurricane straight-six, Auto Express rightly inquired about whether it would also appear on the new Alfa. Here’s what Ficili had to say:
“Let’s see,” said the boss. “We need to wait for the Capital Markets day, when our new [group] CEO, Antonio Filosa, will present the plan and not only for Alfa Romeo. Hold [your] breath!”
Stellantis has yet to announce a date for its Capital Markets day, though it’s worth noting it held its last investor day back in June 2024. Auto Express doesn’t expect the Hurricane to come to Europe due to emissions limitations, but Ficili’s comments leave the door open for a straight-six-powered Alfa to come to other markets (including ours). Other drivetrains will likely include hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and/or range-extended EVs.
Until then? Alfa will keep selling the current Stelvio and Giulia. While sales fell 36% last year in America, they were up by 19 percent globally, and a healthy 29 percent in Europe, thanks to smaller offerings like the Tonale and Junior. Whether those models can keep the brand afloat while engineers redesign the new car, well, the world will have to see.
Top image: Alfa Romeo
wow who could have imagined that the extremely unrealistic emissions and EV guidelines would have to be reverted back?
The “this is fine” meme applies more to Stellantis that just about anything else ever.
I disagree with the flat floor analysis. My 2021 Equinox has a flat interior floor despite being gas powered and AWD, as the interior floor is about three inches taller than the bottom of the car, with the rear driveshaft and exhaust sandwiched in between the two floors. An exhaust system and driveshaft should be able to fit in the space vacated by the battery, should it not?
I thought it was general knowledge that the EVs were already using STLA Large? If so, this excuse is, how they say… caca di toro?
The Nissan Rogue and Mitsubishi Outlander share platforms. Didn’t stop Nissan from just slapping their badges on the Outlander hybrid and calling it a day instead of shoving the Mitsu mechanicals into the real Rogue.
Interesting that sales are up due to in large part to an reskinned Stellantis ev (Junior), yet they’re abandoning the ev plattform for the Stelvio and Giulia.
Alfa is by far one of the most overrated brands. I don’t get it. I don’t get italian cars in general.
I’m glad I’m not the only one. Warning: hot take coming up.
Alfas have always been weird looking (at best) to me with that odd nose. Sure, some are a bit spicy. But overall they’re not attractive to me, and I don’t have an ear for opera. The engines do sound amazing … when they’re running.
There are some amazing classics like the Ferrari 250s. But those are in a completely rarified air and cost more than I’ll make in 10 lifetimes. Every single modern Italian car I can think of is a less-good version of another non-Italian car that I’d rather have.
Have you driven a Giulia or Stelvio, especially at higher speeds? Even better, on a track? Their reliability is actually surprisingly good, despite being an FCA product. While I’m not exactly the target market, I’d acquire one of them before the comparable German option were I to be shopping for that class of vehicle. Of course that also means I’ve passed up the British, Swedish, Japanese, American, and maybe even South Korean options at that point.
My wife drove a Giulia for 5 years. It was the trim level just below the Quadrofoglio.
That car was an absolute blast to drive. The handling was the right weight and quickness for the car, and the whole driving experiences was setup in such a way as to always seem to goad you to go faster. I loved that car.
It was like fire and ice though, that sort of Italian love like in the Ferrari movie where Enzo’s wife shoots at him with a gun in the morning when he comes back from his mistress’s house. Just the most amazing feeling while driving it and then crippling sciatica from the seat. I still wanted to drive it for short stints. The car spurned me, but I couldn’t stop going back for more.
Besides the seat crushing my sciatic nerve, my main complaint was the turbo. It was fine in normal use and fun when putting your foot in it, but you never forgot it was a turbo. Definitely had some lag. I had a 2001 911 cabriolet at the time, and you could feel so much difference in how the power was delivered.
The cars just had very different driving experiences and were fun in their own ways. The Giulia was never as light and balanced as the 911, which was rwd and manual, but the Giulia was still very fun every time I drove it. I miss it terribly and would take the keys to drive one in a second, even though it would shoot pain down my leg if I drove it longer than 20 minutes.
And meanwhile we Alfa owners are waiting for Stellantis to get their act together and get enough fuel pumps so they can replace the ones under recall.
The more non Alfa stuff put into an Alfa, the better
Alfa should have gotten the Miata clone instead of Fiat. They could have put the 2.9l v6 into a roadster. Basically, a modern Cobra. I would have bought it, regardless of reliability.
They probably would’ve re-engineered it to be front wheel drive and have an automated manual transmission. There must be some internal memo from the ’90s that no one can delete.
Must include the Fratzonic.
Arguably they both should have had a Miata iteration. Yes, the Alfa should have had its own engine to set it apart, and commensurately priced higher than the Abarth 124. Move the ignition switch to the steering wheel, some more cushioning and bolstering to the Lusso’s seats, and there you go.
I love Alfa, so watching what Stellantis is doing to them is genuinely depressing
I cannot imagine how much money has been lost between all the automakers with their respective government’s flip flopping on emissions rulings. The list of makes that were going “BEV ONLY BITCHES!” was over 30%, if I remember correctly. Alfa, Volvo, Buick, Cadillac, Lincoln, Infiniti and others were all about that shit.
And now?
Proper fucked.
Bad decisions have consequences……
Yup – all those idiots who made the bad decision to vote for Trump. His damage to the western economic alliances, and the environmental denial his administration promotes, will allow China to jump even further ahead in EVs and related fields. So much for the American century.
I would think that if someone completely re-skinned the Charger as an Alfa, tuned up the suspension to be less muscle-car, and released it – that it might do ok as a sporty product (given the Charger’s current pricetag, it would be more palatable as an Alfa)
The Italians probably still remember how it went when they tried something like this fifteen years ago: badly.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Thema
Thema, Flavia, Voyager… But once you add in the Ypsilon and Musa: the Thema actually seems pretty ok (until you want to, you know, actually live with it in a modern European city).
Stellantis is quickly becoming the AMC of the 2020’s. Most of their brands have just a small number of aging models on aging platforms, why should Alfa miss out on that action?
I’m almost half expecting them to move the global HQ to Australia so that they can rename Dodge as Dodgereedoo… and then still not invest in R&D for new vehicles, platforms and powertrains.
The French brands seem to be far better off.
Is it better planning, a stronger pipeline?
And WHY hasn’t there been better platform sharing?
Dodgereedoo? Sounds like a combo between Dodge and Dorito. It must come in Orange
Oh no, not the Stelvio! My favorite
artificial sweetenercrossover.Watching Alfa Romeo is like watching Norma Desmond in “Sunset Strip”. “Do you remember who I used to be?”
Great this will give them time to get the reliability all sorted out
That’s the funniest thing I’ve read all day.
They’re gunning for Toyota’s reliability crown. (Sorry… I couldn’t even type that with a straight human-skin face)
I recommend a holographic mask. Easier to control, more comfortable. And you can set it to “compassionate” then make rude faces at people.
I’m sure it’ll be every bit as reliable as the new Tacoma!
My Ex bought a used Stelvio from a friend, and gave her Outback to our son. I didn’t talk her out of it. Does that make me a bad person?
Depends on how much she paid for it. If I got a good deal, I’d give it a whirl. Outbacks are mildly soul crushing to drive
Nah… nobody is responsible for what their ex does. The ex is an adult. And being an adult means they get to suffer the consequences of their decisions.
Arkansas says not necessarily…
Well, at least they’re not following their usual MO of discontinuing the old models ages before anything new is ready to replace them, something to sell is always better than an empty showroom
You’d think Jaguar would know this.