Alfa Romeo abandons plans to make larger cars

Alfa Romeo’s revival is not going as planned. Despite a billion-dollar investment in the Giorgio platform, the Giulia and Stelvio never lived up to FCA’s expectations, nor those of Stellantis. Ten years later, both cars remain on sale and will last until 2027. Replacements are in the works, but are taking longer than expected because gas engines were not originally part of the plan.

Adding combustion engines to the next generation Giulia and Stelvio is just one of many recent decisions that contradict Alfa Romeo’s previous strategy. The brand had promised to go fully electric before the end of this decade, but that is no longer the case. Likewise, plans for a large electric SUV tailored to the US market appear to have been shelved.

Former CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato once said that Alfa Romeo would launch a large electric SUV in North America in 2027 as a successor to the BMW X5. However, current boss Santo Ficili sees things differently. Speak with Automotive News Europethe head of the legendary Italian brand declared that “big cars are not the territory of the brand.”

Between the lines, it seems that the future Stelvio, shown here in teaser images, will be Alfa Romeo’s largest model. It uses the STLA Medium platform, designed for vehicles up to 4.9 meters in length. That said, given Ficili’s comments, the company likely won’t leverage the platform’s full potential. Still, expect the new SUV to grow slightly compared to the current model, which measures 184.5 inches (4.68 meters).

It seems the brand is no longer looking to challenge the high-end offerings from the Germans. That’s not necessarily bad news. It’s better to focus on a smaller lineup and expand later than to spread resources across too many projects at once.

By using Stellantis’ platforms and technology, Alfa Romeo can develop cars and SUVs in most market segments. But the country does not want to make itself too small, especially given the current problems. And it’s not just the Giulia and Stelvio that are lagging behind their rivals in sales figures. The smaller Tonale doesn’t fare much better. Before a facelift, production was briefly halted to bring production in line with weak demand. That’s never a good sign.

Alfa Romeo is one of the underperforming brands within the Stellantis empire. Lancia isn’t thriving either, and the same can be said of DS Automobiles. On the other side of the Atlantic, Chrysler has certainly seen better days, as it’s down to just one model: the aging Pacifica/Voyager.