Alfa Romeo To Ditch Rear-Drive Giorgio Platform For New EV Underpinnings From Stellantis

Alfa Romeo is going to ditch the much advertised and costly Giorgio platform once the Giulia and Stelvio models reach the end of their lifecycle because it was never engineered for electrification.

The news came from Alfa Romeo’s new CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato, who broke the news to Italian journalists. Imparato said that future Alfa Romeo models will use the new STLA-large architecture from Stellantis, which will also underpin future Maserati sedans and SUVs.

“We are working on the Large platform of Stellantis and we will no longer use the Giorgio,” Imparato said according to Forbes. “We must take advantage of the volumes to take all possible opportunities and bring an EV range to Alfa Romeo, but always with the touch of Alfa Romeo.”

The Giorgio rear-wheel and all-wheel driver architecture was originally designed and developed to help Alfa Romeo in its big 2014 comeback, with Fiat-Chrysler originally planning to use it in no less than 15 models across different brands like Maserati, Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep.

However, as the platform was deemed too expensive, beyond the the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio, the only other models that are using or will use the Giorgio platform, are the new Jeep Grand Cherokee L (together with the upcoming standard length version) and the new Maserati Grecale, a new midsize SUV set to be revealed later this year.

Alfa Romeo’s ‘Baby’ SUV gets delayed

The upcoming Alfa Romeo Tonale

Imparato also delayed the launch of the Alfa Romeo Tonale, the brand’s new SUV model that will slot underneath the Stelvio, because he felt that its plug-in hybrid powertrain wasn’t good enough. The new Tonale will use the same underpinnings as the Jeep Compass.

“The Tonale is Alfa Romeo’s first electrified car, so we have to do a very high level job,” Imparato said. “When you see that Europe imposes a -60% CO2 on you in 2030, if you are not electrified you are dead. With Stellantis we have the advantage of providing the Tonale with some technological updates, so I decided we had to update the PHEV immediately.”

The new Alfa Romeo boss also confirmed that all future models will be either electrified or pure EVs and that they are planning to build a new model in Poland, without giving out further details. AutoNews reports that the new Alfa Romeo will be an SUV smaller than the Tonale which could be named Brennero, after a mountain pass in northern Italy.

Fiat-Chrysler never announced how much money it invested in the Giorgio architecture, which was designed to offer class-leading driving dynamics against premium German rivals, but it was forced to write off just under 800 million euros ($960 million) of investments on the platform in 2019.

“The thing that I think needs to be fixed is that we don’t have to change strategy every day: we need stability”, said Imparato.

“What we are doing is putting a plan on track over ten years, with the (projects of) the first five years planned, planned, validated, and financed. Once this is done we do not change.”

“After the Tonale, we will do a progressive, annual presentation of the product plan, including the full electrification of the range, but I don’t want to present a five-year plan now because I don’t want to make promises that may not be kept,” Imparato added.