LONDON: Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has big plans for Alfa Romeo. The boss wants eight new models in the Alfa lineup by 2018, including a wagon and a crossover based on the new Giulia sedan. A turn out Sergio is serious about that SUV: He says the preproduction work is complete, and the model will go into production by mid-2016.
This report comes to us from The Detroit Free Press, which quotes Marchionne as saying the company has spent nearly 2 billion euro, or roughly $2.2 billion, on preparation for the SUV. “That involves effectively the industrialization on the first car, the architecture, the engines and effectively all the prep work in connection with the launch of the second vehicle, which is coming at the end of the first half, beginning of the second half of 2016,” Marchionne told the paper.
In that quote, Marchionne refers to the Giulia sedan as “the first car,” meaning the first of the planned eight new models in the Alfa lineup. The as-yet-unnamed SUV, which we’ve speculatively rendered above, would be the second of the new vehicles.
The ambitious plan is to boost Alfa Romeo’s global sales to more than 400,000 vehicles annually by 2018, 150,000 of which would come from the U.S. market. As of right now, the Alfa Romeo 4C is the brand’s only vehicle on sale in the U.S., having moved just 295 units in this country so far this year, The Detroit Free Press reports. Production on the Giulia sport sedan is slated to begin late this year, with an on-sale date in early 2016.
