Speaking to Auto Express back in 2025, Alfa Romeo’s then head of marketing and communication, Cristiano Fiorio (now General Manager of the firm’s Bottega Fuoriserie team) said: “The purpose of Alfa Romeo is to offer cars that are nice to drive and which respond to your needs. If you have to understand the technology before driving, that cannot be an Alfa Romeo.”
If the new Stelvio arrives before the Giulia and upcoming family hatchback, it could be the first Alfa Romeo to make use of ‘STLA Brain’. This electrical system appears to work in a similar fashion to BMW’s Neue Klasse ‘Heart of Joy’, found in the latest iX3, by integrating elements such as the infotainment, powertrain and safety systems all into a centralised supercomputer.
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Then there’s STLA ‘Smartcockpit’. This is set to be rolled out across all STLA One cars, using the same underlying infotainment system with individual interfaces bespoke to each brand.
Away from the electric Stelvio, which could be called ‘Stelvio Elettrica’ if it follows the path of the Junior Elettrica (Alfa Romeo’s first electric car), it’s not yet clear what petrol hybrid powertrains will be available.
We should still look forward to a hot Quadrifoglio version, however. Alfa Romeo brought back Quadrifoglio versions of the current Giulia and Stelvio models earlier this year with Santo Ficili, the CEO of Alfa Romeo, stating the move was “to keep to a promise made to customers of ours who pay the most attention to the extreme performance and pure emotions inherent in Alfa Romeo’s DNA”.
Given how ingrained the Quadrifoglio brand appears to be in the Giulia and Stelvio models especially, is there scope for hot EV variants too? In 2025 Fiorio also said, “Personally, I do not see a Quadrifoglio EV. I see a Quadrifoglio which has the sound of a real engine.” He added: “Quadrifoglio to me, to us, should be something with a roar.”
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