New Alfa Romeo Giulia QV & Alfa SUV launches delayed

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The new Alfa Romeo Giulia QV will not now be launched until the middle of 2016, and the new Alfa SUV won’t arrive until 2017, as FCA re-examine expansion plans.

Fiat Chrysler’s Sergio Marchionne has big plans to expand the Alfa Romeo brand, and is targeting sales of 400,000 cars a year by 2020. But a slowdown in China looks to have set back their plans.

Automotive News are reporting that as FCA re-examines their expansion plans for Alfa in the light of the slowdown of the new car market in China, they’re delaying the launch of two models that will be the cornerstone of the sales expansion – the new Alfa Giulia and Alfa SUV.

Alfa had planned to deliver the high-performance take on the new Giulia – the Giulia QV – before the end of 2015 to take on cars like the BMW M3 and Mercedes C63 AMG, but problems with its development have put that back by at least six months.

It seems the Giulia QV – which Alfa claim can hit 62mph in just 3.9 seconds – needs more work on its safety and ride before it hits the market. Which probably means the rest of the Giulia range won’t arrive until 2017, and nor will the new Alfa SUV.

Which is a real shame; the Giulia QV looks like it could have what’s needed to take on the might of the German performance saloons. Now we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out.