My wife asked me last week if we should get an Alfa Romeo Stelvio. I told her we should wait for the new one. She asked when it was coming. I said 2026. That was eighteen months ago, and the answer is now 2028, which means I have been wrong about this for long enough that she has stopped asking.
The next-generation Alfa Romeo Stelvio has been pushed back. Again. Multiple reports from Europe and North America — Auto Express, Car and Driver, and several supply-chain sources who know more about Stellantis’s production schedule than Stellantis appears to — put the arrival date somewhere in 2028 at the earliest.
Alfa Romeo has not confirmed this, which is consistent with their broader approach of confirming almost nothing until the car is already at the dealer and someone is handing over a cheque. I admire this quality in Italian manufacturers, in the same way I admire the confidence of a man who turns up to a formal dinner having not been invited. Either it works out fine or it ends quite badly, but it is never boring.
The All-Electric Plan Has Been Scrapped, Which Is the Right Decision Even If It Took Too Long
The most significant change is not the delay, aggravating as it is. It is that Alfa went away, looked very hard at their original plan to launch the next Stelvio as a pure battery-electric vehicle, and apparently decided that was a terrible idea — which it was, as anyone who has tried to find a working public charger in Basilicata or most of the American Midwest could have told them in 2021.
What replaced it is what Stellantis calls a multi-energy approach, which translates roughly as: you can have a plug-in hybrid or a full electric, depending on where you live and how optimistic you are about charging infrastructure. Auto Express and Car and Driver both reported this.
The platform underneath is STLA Large, built from the start to do all three — combustion, hybrid, full electric — on the same architecture. No bolting things together with good intentions and a positive attitude. The engineers apparently had the right tools from the beginning, which is more than can be said for some recent Stellantis projects I could name but won’t.
Power figures: nothing. Alfa has declined to tell anyone what the next Stelvio will actually produce, which is either because they don’t know yet or because the number is embarrassing. Given the whispers about four-figure horsepower in the Quadrifoglio, I suspect it is not the latter.
Whether the Quadrifoglio variant is actually happening is also unconfirmed, though multiple reports suggest it is. I choose to believe this because the alternative — a 300-horsepower all-wheel-drive family appliance with a Quadrifoglio badge on the back — is too depressing to contemplate on a weekday.
The Current Stelvio Stays in Production Until 2027 and Is Still Worth Buying
While Turin sorts all this out, the existing Stelvio continues being made and sold. It remains a very good car. Not a consolation prize — an actual car worth buying. Alfa has confirmed production of both the Stelvio and Giulia through approximately 2027, with order books open. No fire-sale discounting, no signals that the current model is being wound down early. Kelley Blue Book lists it as a 2026 model in the US. European dealers are still taking specifications.
In Quadrifoglio trim, you get a 510-horsepower 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 with enough Ferrari involvement in its development that neither company seems embarrassed about it. The chassis has more to say through the steering wheel than anything German at this price in years. I say that having driven all of them.
The infotainment is showing its age and the rear seat is not what you would call generous. But the car still drives the way cars are supposed to drive. That becomes a rarer quality every time a manufacturer decides the correct approach to a performance SUV is fast in a straight line, numb everywhere else. If you want the V6 before it eventually makes way for something with a charging port and regenerative braking, the window is still open but it will not stay open indefinitely.
The Next Stelvio Gets Bigger, Targeting BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC Directly
The next-generation Alfa Romeo Stelvio will be close to five metres long. The BMW X3 is 4.76 metres. The GLC is 4.72. Alfa goes past both. The current Stelvio is 4.69 metres, so this is a meaningful increase rather than the kind of rounding difference that manufacturers sometimes call a growth in footprint. At five metres you are in different territory.
More rear legroom. More boot. More opportunity to charge more money for it — the last bit being what primarily interests Alfa’s finance department.
The case for growing the car is fairly straightforward. The premium D-segment — X3 territory, GLC territory — is where the real margins are. Alfa wants to compete there properly, not lurk slightly below the main event hoping nobody notices. You cannot be a genuine alternative to a BMW if you are also slightly smaller than one.
Whether the five-metre Stelvio will drive with the same compact, communicative quality as the current car is something I cannot tell you, because Alfa have not let anyone near it. My suspicion, based on three decades of watching cars get heavier and more capable and less interesting, is that the answer will involve some compromise.
A New Unnamed Alfa SUV Arrives Before the Stelvio, Built at Melfi
The next Alfa Romeo Stelvio will not be the brand’s next new model. Reuters made that clear. Before it arrives, Alfa is building an entirely new C-segment SUV at the Melfi plant in southern Italy, targeting a launch by the end of 2027. This car sits between the Tonale and the Stelvio in size. No confirmed name.
It runs on STLA Medium rather than the STLA Large the Stelvio will use, and carries both combustion and electric powertrains. Its design language previews what the next Stelvio will look like. A sensible way to test a new direction without staking the brand on it.
By the time the new Alfa Romeo Stelvio reaches dealers, the brand’s SUV lineup runs Junior, Tonale, this unnamed C-segment car, Stelvio. Four SUVs. Alfa Romeo spent most of its history making two cars, occasionally three.
Four SUVs in graduated sizes is a different kind of company entirely to the one that launched the original Stelvio in 2016. Whether all four can be meaningfully differentiated is a question the sales figures will eventually answer more honestly than any press release.
Buying the Current Alfa Romeo Stelvio Now Versus Waiting Until 2028
I have a view on this, which regular readers will not find surprising: buy the V6 now and stop overthinking it. The twin-turbo 2.9-litre is the kind of engine that becomes a talking point in twenty years, when people are gathered around one in a heated garage explaining to their children what combustion felt like. Production ends in 2027.
The next car will be heavier, more complex, and oriented around a powertrain that draws electricity from a wall socket, and whether it will feel as direct and communicative as the current Stelvio is something nobody at Alfa has answered, possibly because they haven’t decided yet.
If technology matters more than soul — and for plenty of buyers it genuinely should, this is not an insult — then waiting is the right call. The STLA Large platform brings current-generation electronics and over-the-air updates, and the gap between that and the 2017 architecture under the current car will be wide enough to notice on day one.
Driver assistance systems, infotainment responsiveness, the ability to not feel like you are using a first-generation touchscreen every time you adjust the temperature — all of that improves substantially. On the resale side, a 2026 Stelvio bought today becomes the outgoing model in roughly two years. Dealers put new and used side by side. Second-hand values on the older car drop. If you plan to sell before 2030, factor that in.
What Has Not Been Confirmed
Alfa Romeo has not officially confirmed a production start date, a reveal event, powertrain specifications, pricing, battery sizes, charging speeds, or power outputs. No Quadrifoglio confirmation. Nothing substantive beyond: next-generation Stelvio coming, STLA Large underneath, multiple powertrain options. That is the full extent of it.
The 2028 date cited across trade reporting reflects supply-chain sourcing and roadmap analysis rather than an official announcement, and Stellantis platform timelines have shifted before. The Reuters-reported Melfi SUV could similarly move depending on manufacturing capacity and parts supply.
Confirmed: the current Stelvio builds until 2027, STLA Large underneath the next one, multi-energy powertrain strategy, new C-segment SUV before the replacement. That is it. Alfa Romeo’s communication on the rest has been, to put it charitably, minimal.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the next-generation Alfa Romeo Stelvio coming out?
Current trade reporting points to 2028. Alfa Romeo has not confirmed an official date. The original timeline had it arriving in 2026, which did not happen.
Will the next Alfa Romeo Stelvio be electric only?
No. The electric-only plan was dropped. The next Alfa Romeo Stelvio will offer both plug-in hybrid and full electric options on Stellantis’s STLA Large platform.
Is the current Alfa Romeo Stelvio still being sold?
Yes, production continues through approximately 2027. It remains available as a 2026 model in the US market and in European dealerships.
What platform does the next Stelvio use?
STLA Large, Stellantis’s architecture for larger vehicles. Designed to support combustion, hybrid, and electric powertrains without major re-engineering between variants.
Will there be a next-generation Stelvio Quadrifoglio?
Alfa intends to carry the Quadrifoglio name into the next generation. No power output, format, or pricing has been officially confirmed.
What is the new Alfa Romeo SUV at Melfi?
An unnamed C-segment SUV on the STLA Medium platform, due by end of 2027. It previews the design language that the next Alfa Romeo Stelvio will eventually use.
How long will the next Alfa Romeo Stelvio be?
Close to five metres. That is longer than the current car and longer than the BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC.
Also Read: Honda Passport vs Pilot: You Are Paying $2,500 More for the Wrong Reason
