It seems the new Giulia and Stelvio won’t be a fully electric affair after all.
In August 2021, Stellantis announced that Alfa Romeo in the regions of extended Europe, North America and China will offer exclusively electric vehicles by 2027.
However, if we fast-forward to October 2024, we’ll see Alfa’s boss, Jean-Philippe Imparato, suggesting that it might not happen. Speaking at the Paris Motor Show, the 58-year-old director mentioned that internal combustion engines will be around a little longer than initially planned.
Imparato told the UK’s Auto Express that Santo Ficiili, the man who will replace him as Alfa Romeo’s chief executive, “has the guts” to adopt a more diverse range of powertrains when it comes to the new Stelvio and Giulia. If the pure electric versions of the SUV and the sedan do not generate enough sales, which could very well happen, both models could go through the “SUS treatment”. This will be possible thanks to the STLA Large platform, which already forms the basis for the new Dodge Charger.
This means that Stelvio and Giulia will reject the expensive Giorgio platform (on the development of which several billion euros were spent), which was used only for the two Alfas in question and three Maserati models (Grecale, GranTurismo and GranCabrio). However, it should also be said that the architecture of the current Jeep Grand Cherokee is also a derivative of the Giorgio platform. Its successor, the STLA Large, is marked by Stellantis as primarily intended for electric cars, but with the possibility of implementing gasoline engines. In addition to Dodge and Alfa, Chrysler and Maserati will also launch new models based on this architecture.
In the gasoline-powered Charger, under the hood is a 3.0-liter, in-line twin-turbo engine with 420 and 550 hp. In both cases, it’s all-wheel drive, with a setting to shift it entirely to the rear axle. Dodge won’t begin production of the Hurricane-powered Charger until the first quarter of 2025.
The new generation Stelvio officially arrives next year, while the arrival of the new Giulia is confirmed for 2026. Imparato told Autocar in Paris that a larger SUV is on the schedule for 2027, and it is a flagship that has its sights set on the North American market as key. It will also rest on the STLA Large platform, so the presence of a gasoline engine is very possible in this case as well.
If conventional power units remain in force, Alfa Romeo will be another manufacturer in the series that will “pull the trigger” on achieving goals related to electric cars. Almost all manufacturers that have promised to go pure electric by 2030 (or earlier) have revised their plans in recent months. Extensive pressure is being exerted on the EU to postpone the ban on the sale of cars with SUS engines from 2035.
Source:
Automotoshow.rs
Photo: Arhiva Autoblog.rs / Alfa Romeo
Source: autoblog.rs
