Good timing
Alfa Romeo needs to become a significant brand again, and so the news follows in rapid succession. After the launch of the Tonale and the Junior, the brand will be introducing a new Stelvio later this year. For Europe, this will be the first car on a completely new platform, and for Alfa, a high-ranking newcomer that is exceptionally ‘well-timed’.
– The First European on the Stla Large Platform
– Electric and Hybrid
– Appearance Already 90 percent Certain
Yes, ‘well-timed’. We’re just making that pun in a story about an Alfa SUV named after the Stelvio Pass. The statement is actually applicable here, because the new Stelvio couldn’t come at a better time. The current Stelvio was presented in November 2016 and will therefore be about nine years old when the successor appears. At the introduction of that previous Stelvio, we already thought that Alfa Romeo had definitively started its way up. After all, the SUV shares its base with the shortly before launched Giulia and, like that Alfa Romeo, is widely praised for its driving characteristics and high Alfa content.
Unfortunately, these larger Alfas have never been truly successful, and when you combine that with the long absence of a successor, you are left with a car that in 2025 plays a role in the margins of the margin. But don’t worry, because under the regime of the Stellantis concern, a breath of fresh air is blowing again at Alfa Romeo. The brand currently launches a new model every year and pays a little less attention to the traditional brand values, and much more to current trends. This resulted in the Tonale (still under FCA) and Junior, but now it’s really time for the bigger stuff.
Stla Large
The new Stelvio immediately brings a nice scoop, because this is the first car to be introduced in Europe on Stellantis’ STLA Large platform. In America, they already know that base from the Dodge Charger, and following the example of that model, the Stelvio will first appear as an EV. Then the gasoline versions will follow, which in Europe will undoubtedly receive electrical support to reduce CO2 emissions. If Alfa Romeo chooses American power sources, that electrical support is certainly not an unnecessary luxury. The Charger in the US gets thick six-cylinder inline engines with hundreds of horsepower.
The choice for the STLA Large base most likely means that the Stelvio will in principle remain a rear-wheel drive, with longitudinally placed combustion engines if applicable. However, we assume that the Italians will opt for four-wheel drive in most or all cases. This certainly also applies to the electric models on which the emphasis is in Europe. STLA Large is scalable but suitable for cars from 4.76 to 5.13 meters. That is substantial and clearly places the Stelvio above the C-segment SUVs that Stellantis already has in-house. The Stelvio will therefore not be a twin brother of the Peugeot 3008 or the Opel Grandland, models that rest on the smaller STLA Medium base.
The rear, in particular, is designed in a special way
90 percent certain
We admit it: the renders of future models are sometimes a wild guess. We commission our draftsman based on the information we have, and that is sometimes simply not much. In the case of the Stelvio, that is different and we show you the car as it is 90 percent certain to be. How do we know that? The Alfa Romeo has already surfaced in the database of an Argentinian (!) patent office, and based on those pictures and the spy images, the images on this page were made.
So we know that the Stelvio will be a strikingly elongated SUV, with a flat-lying rear window and a sharply cut side window section. The license plate at the front is no longer on the left side, but like the Junior, under the striking Scudetto grille. Although the large, wide strips next to that grille suggest headlights, the dipped headlights are actually one floor lower. From the side, electrically folding door handles stand out, following the example of DS, among others. The rear is certainly not the least, and gets a very striking rear light section that frames a large black surface in a slight V-shape. The whole thing looks very modern and is still unmistakably Italian, although the family connection with some other Stellantis brands is obvious. The Stelvio will have its premiere in 2025 and we will learn everything about it. Prefer no SUV? Don’t worry: the new Giulia will see the light of day in 2026.