Alfa Romeo Scraps New Giulia And Stelvio Plans To Start Fresh

The Alfa Romeo Junior has been a much-needed hit in Europe, where the company received more than 50,000 orders by mid-September. Elsewhere, things were far more bleak as the brand has an aging lineup.

That’s especially true in the United States, where the company only offers the Giulia, Stelvio, and Tonale. These three models generated a combined 5,652 sales for the entire year. That was a drop of 36 percent and a downright embarrassing figure as BMW managed to sell more X4 crossovers than the entire Alfa Romeo lineup.

More: New Alfa Romeo Stelvio Leaks Out Giving Off Strong Mandalorian Vibes

Unfortunately, things won’t get better anytime soon as Alfa Romeo CEO Santo Ficili has revealed the company has to “change everything” about the next-generation Giulia and Stelvio.

“We need to go from only-BEV to all the other powertrains,” Ficili told Auto Express. “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.” 

That’s a big last minute shift, especially considering the Stelvio was originally supposed to be launched last year. However, EV sales haven’t grown as quickly as some anticipated and the United States eliminated the clean vehicle tax credit last year.

Meanwhile, the European Union also pulled back from earlier targets, revising its stance on the 2035 zero-emission mandate. What was once an outright ban has become a 90 percent reduction goal, effectively allowing the continued sale of combustion-engine cars beyond 2035.

“We are changing our path because we were imagining Alfa Romeo’s future was electric-only, to respect the rules coming from Brussels,” said the CEO.

Instead of introducing models that would likely bomb, Alfa Romeo decided a radical rethink was needed. Ficili said the upcoming models will ride on the STLA Large platform, which could mean they’ll be offered with the twin-turbo 3.0-liter Hurricane inline-six from the Dodge Charger.

Official patent drawings of the next Stelvio before Alfa changed plans.

Ficili wouldn’t confirm this, but said we can expect to learn more during Stellantis’ Capital Markets day event. There, CEO Antonio Filosa will unveil a new plan for Alfa Romeo as well as other brands.

While details remain to be seen, Auto Express reports the European variants will likely be offered with electric and plug-in hybrid powertrains. However, they noted range-extended EVs are also an option.

That being said, the redesigned models reportedly won’t arrive until 2028. This lengthy delay means the current Giulia and Stelvio will be sticking around until the end of 2027.