Alfa Romeo Stelvio SUV Unveiled At LA Auto Show – Coming To Australia In 2018

Alfa Romeo has pulled the covers from its much-anticipated Stelvio at the LA Auto Show, revealing the carmaker’s first-ever SUV.

For fans of the Italian carmaker who might have scoffed at the idea that an SUV could wear an Alfa badge, the styling and the numbers for the top-spec Stelvio Quadrifoglio (QV), on show in LA, may just sway their opinion.

Alfa is favouring performance over all else with the Stelvio, and the new model has Germany’s ‘big three’ in its sights. In this case, that’s the BMW X3, Audi Q5 and Mercedes-Benz GLC, all of which offer performance versions.

With the Stelvio, Alfa insists it has nailed the authentic Alfa Romeo spirit, with distinctly Italian styling, state-of-the-art engines, good weight distribution, some clever technical solutions, and an outstanding power-to-weight ratio leading to compelling on-road performance.

"Stelvio is uniquely engineered to challenge two-door sports cars on the track, without sacrificing any of the characteristics you would expect from a premium SUV, resulting in the perfect mix of high performance, capability and Italian design," boasts Reid Bigland, the head of Alfa Romeo.

No suggestion from anyone at Alfa that the Stelvio is a worthy off roader. It is a sports car masquerading as an SUV.

It's the second of a new line-up of vehicles (after the 2015 Giulia sedan) built off a new global Alfa architecture. The use of aluminium in the front and rear vehicle frames, front shock towers, brakes, suspension components, doors and guards has brought down vehicle weight.

The most powerful production Alfa yet, the 375kW 2.9-litre V6 bi-turbo petrol-engined Stelvio QV accelerates from standstill to 100km/h in close to 4.0 seconds but also gets the characteristic ingredients that have long attracted adherents to the brand with varying levels of commitment and enthusiasm during good times and bad.