What’s New for 2022: Alfa Romeo

Alfa Romeo may just be getting started. Not long after the Italian performance brand returned to the U.S. in 2014, it seemed like its revival would be short-lived. Last year, the Italian luxury brand discontinued the 4C Spider, and speculation on the future of the Giulia sedan and related Stelvio compact crossover was bearish at best. 

Then parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles merged with Groupe PSA led by Peugeot and formed the mega-brand Stellantis. Earlier this year, Stellantis curbed the return of Peugeot to the U.S. market to instead focus on positioning Alfa Romeo as its luxury brand. This past Wednesday, Alfa announced plans to introduce a new model every year until 2026, at which point the luxury brand with Italian performance DNA will transition to developing only fully electric vehicles from 2027 and beyond.

That’s a big swing from facing obsolescence to becoming the face of Stellantis’s electric future. The company consists of the American brands Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Chrysler, and the European brands including Citroen, Opel, Lancia, Peugeot, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Fiat, which is down to one model in the U.S. 

Alfa’s first electrified vehicle arrives next year as the 2023 Tonale small crossover with a plug-in hybrid option. The Stelvio is designed as much like a sport wagon as a crossover, so the Tonale might be as much a hatchback as a small crossover. An even smaller Alfa Romeo crossover is expected, but it may just be limited to European and other markets embracing smaller electric vehicles.

Alfa Romeo isn’t waiting around in the U.S. Here are the latest updates to its lineup, which now comes with more standard safety features. 

2022 Alfa Romeo Giulia

– Blind-spot monitors, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warnings, automatic high beams, and parking sensors now join automatic emergency braking as standard. 

– Standard features include a 7.0-inch digital cluster, an 8.8-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, front and rear heated seats, navigation, and wireless phone charging.

– Veloce trim replaces the Ti Sport, and slots below the Quadrifoglio performance model.

– Sprint, Ti, and Veloce use a 2.0-liter turbo-4 producing 280 hp and 306 lb-ft of torque; Quadrifoglio has a 2.9-liter twin-turbo V-6 with 505 hp and 443 lb-ft.

2022 Alfa Romeo Stelvio 

– Blind-spot monitors, adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warnings, automatic high beams, and parking sensors now join automatic emergency braking as standard. 

– Standard features include a 7.0-inch digital cluster, an 8.8-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, front and rear heated seats, navigation, and wireless phone charging.

– Same trim line and engine options as the Giulia.  

Pricing of both models will be announced closer to their on-sale date later this year.