Alfa Romeo: what lies ahead in the coming years

In a motoring landscape where new brands are springing up like mushrooms – not just Chinese ones, which often have interesting features but are unknown by name and, at least in these parts, have no admirers or enthusiasts – Alfa Romeo is the exact opposite. To draw a football analogy, it’s a bit like Torino. A team that dominated in 1928 and from 1945 to 1949, earning the title of Grande Torino, with its last league title in 1976, only to win practically nothing thereafter, yet still able to count on a fanbase of visceral loyalty. We find the same situation with the Biscione. Because Alfa Romeo is still a brand capable of making enthusiasts’ hearts beat faster thanks to that mix of sporting victories in the past, truly iconic models and a DNA that has made sportiness its defining trait. Add to that the fact that many of us grew up in an Alfa, or had a grandfather with a Junior Scalino in the garage, and there you have it.

The problem is that by constantly extending the lifecycle of models – and by discontinuing and rebranding Stellantis models that are perhaps only distantly related to sports cars – customers eventually grow tired of it. And the various special editions of the Giulia Quadrifoglio (which, despite being 10 years old, remains a must-have for any wealthy enthusiast) or the constant victories at the Mille Miglia are not enough to bring sales back to sustainable levels. An example? A 20% drop in Italia from January to May 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, with just 1,789 cars sold in the fifth month of the year compared to 2,497 in May ’25. Comparing it with premium brands – as Alfa often describes itself – in May Audi closed 7,535 contracts, BMW 6,717 and Mercedes 4,473.

Whilst the overall figures are hard to dispute, there is hope for the Arese-based brand. Not only because of the current range, with the Junior proving popular in the compact SUV sector (despite being a re-skinned 2008, albeit refined by Alfa’s engineers) and the restyled Tonale, where past flaws have been addressed, but above all because of what was announced during the business plan and recently by Emanuele Cappellano, the automotive group’s head of Europe, who confirmed the €5 billion investment in Italia by 2030 for innovation. “The Italia Plan ‘will be stronger with Fastlane 2030 and with a clear vision: our country will be the production hub for small cars in Mirafiori and Pomigliano, for mid-to-high-end and luxury cars in Melfi, Cassino and Modena, and for commercial vehicles in Atessa,” emphasised Cappellano.

In other words? The successor to the Tonale will be built in Melfi from 2028 onwards on the STLA Medium platform (the same as the Compass), whilst the Giulietta will be built on the new STLA One platform.

The question on every enthusiast’s mind – and that of current owners – is whether the successors to the Giulia and Stelvio will ever arrive. Because after scrapping plans for an electric Stelvio when the car was practically ready, Alfa Romeo has only made things harder for itself. How? By forgetting to include the two cars in the slide presented during the Fastlane business plan, and never mentioning them during the presentation, as covered in our article on their cancellation. That article, along with others, led Alfa Romeo to issue a statement confirming the development of a future D-segment model. Cappellano was even clearer at the press conference with a terse “they will be there, but we don’t yet know how. The current models are moving forward with the necessary product updates, but we are not currently communicating when these will take place. In any case, we intend to continue with the Giulia and Stelvio in the future.” Added to the list of new developments is a one-off model created by the Bottega Fuoriserie division.