Alfa Romeo Stelvio – Spy video: SUV caught near Nurburgring

Shot outside Alfa?s Nrburgring test centre today, this is another batch of spy-shots of the production version Alfa Romeo SUV that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles boss Sergio Marchionne has christened the Stelvio and that is scheduled to start production in the final quarter of 2016, slated for sale early in 2017. Code-named the Tipo 949 D-SUV, the Stelvio name is in homage of the famous mountain pass in Italy, which teases the Swiss border before heading north into southern Austria. Alternatively, Stelvio is also the name of a popular Italian cheese, an Italian National Park and a composer. It won?t be the only Stelvio on sale in the internal-combustion world, because there?s also a Moto Guzzi bike with the same name. Alfa has been insistent throughout the SUV?s development that while it would be a competent SUV, it would focus on being best-in-class in on-road ability, and the Stelvio name is a strong hint that Alfa is pleased with what it?s finishing up with. It will use a slight variation of the Giulia?s all-new architecture, designed by Alfa Romeo engineers tucked away inside Maserati?s headquarters. Designed for both rear- and all-wheel drive powertrains, the architecture gives Alfa the ability to fit the Stelvio with a range of four-cylinder and V6 petrol and diesel engines. There will also be a Quadrifoglio Verde version, boasting the same twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre V6 petrol engine as the similarly named Giulia flagship. While there were plans for Alfa to deliver eight cars off the same architecture by 2018, those plans have been pushed back until 2020, though sources at Alfa insist the company has not started development work on any of the other promised models. The original plan called for a larger, seven-seat Tipo 962 C-SUV, a full-sized sports-luxury sedan code-named Tipo 941, along with Spider and Coupe versions of the Tipo 963 sports car. Replacements for the front-drive Giulietta and the MiTo hatches would flesh out the model lineup to eight cars. The Italian brand recently confirmed plans to delay the launch of its first ever SUV ? relaying the news via an investor presentation in Italy. Among the various slides were details of improved Jeep sales and a new plan detailing specific region requirements. However, in addition, it confirmed RD, manufacturing and product investment would be reduced through 2018. As a result, the planned product line-up will be completed by mid-2020 instead of by 2018 as mooted in earlier discussions. The SUV will still land by the end of 2017, though, with six other models following after. Iscrivetevi al nostro canale: https://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=motorionlinetv Seguiteci su Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/motorionline/ Seguiteci su Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/motorionline/ - @motorionline Le nostre migliori foto su Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/motorionline/ - @motorionline Tutti gli aggiornamenti su Tumblr: http://motorionline.tumblr.com/