After it was reported last week that Alfa Romeo would abandon its excellent rear-wheel drive platform Giorgio , it's time to put some water on the boil: Giorgio won't go away, it will just… evolve.
Last week we made known the plans for electrification of Stellantis, the automobile giant that Alfa Romeo is part of. In that plan, we learned that the group's electrified future will be based on four platforms: STLA Small, STLA Medium, STLA Large and STLA Frame.
As you can see, Giorgio is not part of these plans, but in its place we have a new STLA Large platform that will arrive in 2023. Well, actually, it's just a different name for (almost) the same base.
In fact, one would not expect any action other than a progressive standardization within the new group (resulting from the merger between Groupe PSA and FCA) of all platforms and mechanics. Giorgio's case is not unique: the platform that will succeed the EMP (which equips, for example, the Peugeot 308 or the DS 4), which the Groupe PSA had dubbed the eVMP (debuting by the successor of the Peugeot 3008) will be renamed up STLA Medium.
In other words, Giorgio will be renamed STLA Large, at the same time it will be able to accommodate hybrid and electric powertrains.
Giorgio will continue to “live” on more models
Giorgio incurred huge development costs (well over 800 million euros) for Alfa Romeo and initial official plans indicated a much wider use than what it has now: only Giulia and Stelvio make use of it.
By this time, and according to those plans, there should already be eight Alfa Romeo models based on Giorgio, as well as other FCA models, namely the successors of the Dodge Challenger and Charger, as well as one or another Maserati more. However, none of this happened, so the return on investment was compromised, given the low production volumes achieved by Giulia and Stelvio.
However, recently, we have seen several models unveiled that use or will use the Giorgio, which has already been modified and evolved (compatible with electrification), even before being renamed STLA Large. The new Jeep Grand Cherokee uses a modified version of Giorgio, as well as the Maserati Grecale, the new SUV of the Italian brand that we will meet at the end of the year.
In addition to these, the successors of the Maserati GranTurismo and GranCabrio that we will meet in 2022 will also be based on an evolution of Giorgio and will have 100% electric variants. All future Maserati, including the successors of Levante and Quattroporte, will have to use this modified/evolved Giorgio or, as it will be known from 2023, STLA Large.
As for Alfa Romeo, Giorgio will continue to be part of its range — even if it's as STLA Large — but not of all its models, as originally planned. We recently reported on the delayed launch of the Tonale (it will arrive in June 2022), a medium SUV to replace, albeit indirectly, the Giulietta. The SUV, which will make a strong bet on plug-in hybrid engines, will use the same Small Wide 4×4 LWB platform as the Jeep Compass.
In 2023, we will see another crossover/SUV arriving, smaller than the Tonale, which could be called Brennero — segment B — and will be based on the CMP, the multi-energy platform originating from Groupe PSA (Opel Mokka, Peugeot 2008). It will be produced in Tychy, Poland, where the Fiat 500 and Lancia Y are currently produced, but where two more crossovers/SUV will also be produced for Jeep and Fiat, “brothers” of the Alfa Romeo model.
What will come next?
We don't know, as it's still being discussed. The recently appointed new head of Alfa Romeo, Jean-Philippe Imparato (who until last year led Peugeot), has already made it public to say that they are defining a plan for the next five years (and another 10 years). A plan that has yet to be approved by Stellantis' management.
Unlike the era of Sergio Marchionne (the ill-fated and pragmatic former FCA CEO), Imparato will not reveal all the news for the next five years, nor will it announce long-term sales targets. In the Marchionne era, 4-5 year forecasts were common, both in terms of new models and also in terms of commercial objectives, but these never came to fruition — quite the contrary…
If Marchionne's plans for Alfa Romeo (and Giorgio) had been scrupulously carried out, by now we would have an Alfa Romeo with a portfolio of eight models and annual sales of at least 400,000 units. At the moment, the range is limited to two models, the Giulia and the Stelvio, and global sales were around 80 thousand units in 2019 — in 2020, with the pandemic, they didn't improve…
Source: Automotive News.