For reasons that should be obvious, the Mazda MX-5 Miata roadster and its hardtop RF sibling are the Japanese automaker’s least popular cars, with sales averaging about 750 units per month across both body styles. Even in the summer, when rear-drive sports car sales are hottest, the Miata only gets about 1,100 new acolytes each month, which is a drop in the bucket compared to Mazda’s 30,000-plus sales in a normal 30-day period. It’s not hard to understand why a two-seat convertible with less than 5 cubic feet of cargo space is less popular than a crossover with five times more space. Unless, apparently, that crossover is wearing an Alfa Romeo badge.
Both the Miata and Miata RF regularly outsell the Alfa Romeo Tonale. And it’s not based solely on price, either, as Alfa’s entry-level crossover starts at $40,745 including destination, only a bit more than the $39,685 that Mazda asks for its retractable hardtop convertible. But the MX-5’s showroom domination doesn’t stop at the compact SUV. These members of the Miata family outsell every single model in the Alfa Romeo lineup – combined.
Italian Passion Loses Its Luster
2026 Alfa Romeo Giulia And Stelvio Quadrifoglio CollezioneAlfa Romeo
After a decades-long absence, Alfa Romeo reentered the US market in 2015 with the mid-engined, limited-production 4C sports car. Within two years, the Giulia sedan joined the lineup to do battle with the likes of the BMW 3 Series.
Initial demand for the Italian four-door was reasonably strong; in its first full year on the market, the Giulia found 8,900 new homes, while in 2018, that number was closer to 11,500. Meanwhile, the 2018 Stelvio crossover almost immediately became Alfa’s bestseller, with 12,043 examples crossing the showroom threshold. That year was the most popular for the Mediterranean brand, with American customers snapping up 23,820 examples of the Giulia, Stelvio, and 4C. But since then, the brand has been in a major slump.
2026 Alfa Romeo TonaleAlfa Romeo
During its introductory year, for example, the 2023 Tonale entry-level crossover only found 2,096 new buyers, underselling the more expensive Giulia and Stelvio by thousands of units. In 2024, the Tonale became quite a bit more popular, with sales expanding 61 percent. But at the same time, both of its older siblings lost some of their luster, and the brand’s full-year sales were down 19 percent overall. 2025 was even worse, with the combined sales of every single Alfa Romeo model (5,652 units) representing a 30-percent-plus contraction for the brand. Last year was the first time the MX-5 Miata overtook the brand, with 8,800-plus roadsters and hardtops finding their way to happy new owners.
This year so far has been particularly bleak. According to the year to date Q2 figures, Mazda has sold 5,010 Miatas. All of Alfa Romeo’s cars combined have only managed to find 1,747 homes so far this year. This perfectly illustrates the massive mountain Alfa Romeo has to climb. If a niche sports car is outselling one sedan and two SUVs, you’ve got a massive problem.
What’s Going On In Italy?
North America (and the United States specifically) tends to be a very unforgiving car market. After brief experiments with US sales, French automakers Citroën and Renault pulled out of the US market in the 1970s and 1980s. At the same time, Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu only lasted five model years – 1988 to 1992 – before abandoning its American sales arm. Yugo, Daewoo, and Peugeot also saw bare-bones success here before ditching US customers in favor of more favorable conditions internationally, and that’s not even counting the American brands our own native automakers have canceled: Plymouth, Mercury, Pontiac. Oldsmobile, and Saturn, to name a few.
2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Front 3/4 View in redAlfa Romeo
So it’s not entirely surprising that a relative unknown in the US, like Alfa Romeo, would have trouble establishing itself here. If an American were familiar with the brand, it would likely be only because they remembered the brand’s suspect reliability and build quality in its 1990s models. And unfortunately, 2010s-era Alfa Romeo didn’t do quite enough to separate itself from its old demons. A 2018 long-term test of a Giulia Quadrifoglio revealed “unforgivable reliability issues,” and even though quality improved after a few model years – especially for the less exotic, non-Quadrifoglio Giulia and Stelvio – many of those excited, 30,000-odd early adopters had experienced enough trouble to risk going back for seconds.
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Those early impressions may have proved difficult to overcome, and even the smaller, cheaper, and more efficient Tonale was not enough to entice Americans back to the brand. Although the formerly plug-in-hybrid compact crossover has much of the same driving verve and appealing styling as its siblings, a cheap-feeling interior and a few quality issues have largely driven would-be customers into the bucket seats of a BMW X2 or Mercedes-Benz GLA instead.
Why Is The Mazda MX-5 Miata So Popular?
Mazda MX-5 Miata Zinc GreenMazda
In today’s power-mad world, it might seem surprising that a 181-horsepower two-seater with a starting price of more than $30,000 has the means to survive. Since its 1990 debut, the Miata has outlasted several would-be rivals, including the mid-engined Toyota MR2 Spyder, the James Bond–chic BMW Z3 and its Z4 replacement, and the ill-fated Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky. Not only has it survived attacks from each of those competitors, but it’s also deflected them with some rather impressive sales numbers – in 2025, Mazda sold 8,727 MX-5 Miatas in the US, the equivalent of one every hour, 24 hours a day.
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And that’s a far cry from the sports car’s 1990s heyday, when yearly sales often topped 20,000 or even 30,000 units. Since its introduction for the 1990 model year, Mazda has sold more than 1 million MX-5 roadsters worldwide, making it a Guinness-certified world record holder for two-seat car sales. Key components of the Miata’s longstanding success are its relatively affordable price, which for 2026 undercuts any other convertible on the market by at least $3,000, as well as its sterling reputation for reliability and driving fun. Who knew those traits were also enough to help it outsell an entire brand of relatively practical, fun-to-drive four-doors and crossovers?
Coming Next For The Italian Brand
Maserati and Alfa Romeo Bottega Fuoriserie division will create special-edition models, provide customization services, and perform restorations on Alfa Romeo and Maserati models.Stellantis
Alfa Romeo had plansto redesign the Stelvio, basing it on parent company Stellantis’ STLA Large platform, which currently underpins the Dodge Charger and Jeep Cherokee. But the SUV (and a rumored coupe-crossover replacement for the Giulia) were both shelved entirely so the brand could refocus its lineup based on current and projected consumer tastes (read: fewer EVs and more hybrids).
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Now, the replacements for Alfa’s D-segment sedan and SUV are being fast-tracked and developed on the new STLA One architecture, which will allow them to transition seamlessly between EV and internal combustion power, depending on market demand. Furthermore, a replacement for the Tonale is also in the works, giving A-R a stronger (and likely hybridized) rival to the BMW X1 and Lexus UX.
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio is powered by a 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine, which is essentially a Ferrari V8 engine with two cylinders chopped off. The same engine powers the magnificent 33 Stradale supercar.Alfa Romeo
Other forthcoming models from the brand include members of the few-off Bottegafuoriserie division it shares with Maserati – the current lineup includes the stunning 33 Stradale,. At the same time,future offerings will help both automakers court high-dollar, high-style customers. But although the automaker has a plan for its worldwide success (which also includes the not-for-American-consumption Junior subcompact crossover), it’s less clear if those ambitions will bear fruit in time to save Alfa Romeo in the US market.
Sources: Alfa Romeo, Mazda, Car and Driver
