It is not easy to imagine an Alfa Romeo SUV, but then a few years back the idea of a Porsche SUV seemed equally preposterous and now we have the Cayenne, Porsche’s best selling model.

Alfa’s newly-appointed CEO, Luca de Meo has revealed to Auto Motor und Sport that an Alfa SUV is in the pipeline in addition to the introduction of stop-start engine technology and even a hybrid system that will be sourced from Alfa’s parent company, Fiat.

The new SUV is believed to based on the Kamal Concept (pictured) first seen at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show and we should expect to see the production model on sale during 2010. With Alfa’s return to the North American market imminent it appears that development of the SUV is well underway in preparation.

Best guesses have the new Alfa SUV based on the 159 platform which not only supports a variety of petrol and turbo-diesel engines but also supports fitment of Alfa’s Q4 all-wheel-drive system.

Engines could very well include Alfa’s 3.2-litre V6 and 2.2-litre four cylinder petrol engines along with a five cylinder turbo-diesel unit.

Life for the Alfa SUV will prove tough with buyers in this segment already being confronted with a range of highly competent options such as the new Volkswagen Tiguan, Audi Q5, BMW X3 and the Mercedes GLK. Having said that we can see an SUV with a little Italian/Alfa Romeo character and flair having some appeal.

GALLERY » alfa-suv

[Source: Auto Motor und Sport]