Alfa needs more crossover cash to survive and is committing to add a second model line.

The Turin auto show is no longer the anchor event it once was, which means that the closest international auto show of reputable standing to Alfa-Romeo’s headquarters, is in Geneva. And atthis year’s Geneva auto show the ‘other’ Italian road car brand with current F1 marketing traction will reveal something significant.

Alfa-Romeo has tabled an ambitious growth strategy, planning to grow its market share by more than half between now and 2022. Powering that vision will be a raft of new product – the first of which is due to be revealed at the Geneva auto show, in early March.

Despite only alluding to ‘an exciting new chapter’ due on its Geneva auto show stand, industry consensus is that Alfa will make public a sub-Stelvio sized crossover. The issue is which platform this new crossover will ride on.

Being a comparatively small manufacturer, Alfa doesn’t readily have a platform of its own at the ready to build a new compact crossover. A partnership or shared platform for the sub-Stelvio is most likely and if candidates for convergence are identified within the greater automotive structure that Alfa-Romeo finds itself within, the solution appears to be either Jeep or from Fiat.

Alfa-Romeo operates within the great automotive corporation which is Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and either Jeep’s Compass or Fiat’s 500 would be the correct size and configuration for a sub-Stelvio platform. The problem is that neither vehicle architecture is expertly designed for part electrification – something Alfa has admitted is part of its future strategy.

Keep an eye out over the next 2 weeks for an update on this story.

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