We caught Alfa Romeo’s engineers testing a camouflaged prototype for the upcoming Giulietta facelift on the streets of Turin in Italy.

Truth to be told, when you have mainstream brands replacing their bread and butter models at the five-year mark (sometimes, even faster) and premium marques at least face-lifting them after about four, Alfa Romeo seems to be pushing it with the Giulietta that has been with us since 2010.

Don’t get us wrong; the Giulietta remains one of the prettiest cars in the hotly contested compact hatch segment, but even the best need a refreshment to keep up with the times and renew customer interest.

We’re not entirely convinced that the tester we spied is finalized, but if it is, then there are only miniscule differences with the current model that was tagging along. Alfa’s grille-shield looks deeper and more prominent– much like the one on the new Giulia sedan – and there may be some tweaks hiding behind the camouflage on the bumpers. The sheet-metal, which is always the costly part of any significant facelift, looks unchanged on this prototype.

Our spies couldn’t nab the interior, but they tell us that it was covered up, so it’s plausible that Alfa is working on some updates inside, both in regards to styling and equipment, with the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ latest Uconnect infotainment system that made its way to the facelifted Fiat 500 to likely be used in the Giulietta.

Alfa just recently applied power and efficiency improvements to the existing petrol and diesel engine range of the Giulietta, so changes here could be limited as well.

We should see the refreshed Alfa compact hatch making its debut alongside the base Giulia sedan at next year’s Geneva Motor Show in March.

Photo Credits: CarPix for CarScoops

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