All-electric Alfa Giulia confirmed for 2026
The Stelvio EV arrives next year on the same STLA Large platform - followed by 'avant-garde' new saloon
We knew that all-electric Alfa Romeos were only a matter of time based on the firm's previous announcements, and now the inevitable has been confirmed: a new Stelvio SUV will debut next year, underpinned by the same STLA Large BEV architecture as the latest Dodge Charger. A Giulia equivalent will follow in 2026.
Alfa says that both electric cars will be ‘Italian gems’, sold worldwide to ‘establish Alfa Romeo as the Stellantis global premium brand’. To achieve that end, the Stelvio will be the first of the STLA Large cars to feature an 800-volt architecture (the Dodge uses 400-volt), with the Giulia to follow suit. An ‘unprecedented driving experience’ is promised from both thanks to the flexibility of the platform, meaning Alfa can tailor things like wheelbase and suspension modules to their liking. Features like active anti-roll are coming, albeit with ‘extremely straightforward’ everyday use - remember that bit. Expectations will be high for every version of electric Giulia and Stelvio given the bar set by the ICE driving experiences; even the non-Quadrifoglios (no details on those as yet) handle very nicely.
Given the STLA Large boasts a chunky 118kWh battery in other installations (the biggest in a Taycan, for instance, is 105kWh), the Alfas will likely share that capacity also. Good for range, especially if efficiency is decent, and it should replenish speedily as well - up to 4.5kWh per minute is claimed. Can’t wait to find one of those chargers. Interestingly, building the new Giulia and Stelvio at the Cassino plant means Italy will be the first European country to have STLA Large assembly, and the only one putting cars together on both the Medium and Large toolkits. Design, of course, will be courtesy of the Alfa Romeo Centro Stile.
There’s more being pioneered by this pair, too. The Stelvio will be the first Stellantis product to use something called the STLA Brain, which is electrical, electronic and software architecture. Over to Alfa: ‘This service-oriented architecture, fully integrated with the cloud, disconnects hardware and software cycles, allowing developers to quickly create and update features and services via OTA updates, with no need to wait for new hardware to be introduced.’ Also sounds like there will be less need to visit a dealer, which is probably good news. Brain also has some Amazon influence thanks to a Stellantis collaboration, aiming to make the experience more personalised.
STLA SmartCockpit will also make its debut in the Stelvio, working ‘in symbiosis’ with Brain to make the car into a ‘fully customisable living space’. Let’s hope the extremely straightforward bit extends to the interior as well, because it sounds like a radical overhaul. There’s AI to assist with pretty much everything, of course, from navigation to an e-commerce marketplace, and the promise of an intuitive interface. So let's hope it really is easy as anything to achieve the desired function, be that through touch, voice or gesture.
It’s a complete rethink of Alfa’s core models then, and speaks to the repositioning of the brand that Stellantis has been banging on about for what seems like years. If nothing else, having the Stelvio as the first STLA Large car in Europe feels like quite a coup. Apparently, both it and the Giulia will demonstrate how Alfa is interpreting ‘the challenge of the transition to electric, while remaining faithful to its DNA’. No small task, then, although when you consider what it achieved with the original versions of these cars - Alfa not having made a rear-drive saloon for 25 years or an SUV in its history - we wouldn't bet against it doing impressively well from a standing start. That's the basis for our current optimism at any rate.
Yep, no real safety features, very basic but you could drive them flat out (or near) for more of the time and have that strange thing called…fun.
I’ll wait to be ‘flamed’ for the above but frankly I don’t care, plus, it’s a car that has more than earned its right to be on the planet, and hasn’t been replaced countless times by newer and ‘better’ cars that use up the earths raw materials.
Antediluvian? You bet..
Ruining legendary cars and turning them into DVD players (as one PHer put it).
How can you possibly replace a 500bhp biturbo V6 with a fridge?
I have had a Giulia Quad and a Veloce and a Stelvio Veloce since 2017 and they have been superb cars with poise and balance and emotion. I’m looking at getting a face lift Giulia - will have to speed it up now before this new nonsense arrives to market.
Yep, no real safety features, very basic but you could drive them flat out (or near) for more of the time and have that strange thing called…fun.
I’ll wait to be ‘flamed’ for the above but frankly I don’t care, plus, it’s a car that has more than earned its right to be on the planet, and hasn’t been replaced countless times by newer and ‘better’ cars that use up the earths raw materials.
Antediluvian? You bet..
Just don't hold up the traffic.
Yep, no real safety features, very basic but you could drive them flat out (or near) for more of the time and have that strange thing called…fun.
I’ll wait to be ‘flamed’ for the above but frankly I don’t care, plus, it’s a car that has more than earned its right to be on the planet, and hasn’t been replaced countless times by newer and ‘better’ cars that use up the earths raw materials.
Antediluvian? You bet..
Just don't hold up the traffic.
TX.
Borrow might be more accurate.
And yes, I know, all electricity currently used for charging is coal powered, etc.
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