Alfa Romeo's first SUV nears

Alfa Romeo has completed all of its preparation work on next year’s SUV, the first dedicated crossover model in the Italian brand’s storied history.

Speaking to automotive industry analysts in a conference call last week, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne revealed that “all the preparation work” for the crossover was already done.

“Alfa’s plan is progressing as we told you it will go,” he said.

Such progression doesn’t come cheaply in the car business, however, with Marchionne admitting Alfa Romeo’s research and development team (plus the marketing assault for the Giulia’s static launch) had already chewed through €2 billion ($A3b) of the €5 billion ($A7.5b) allocated to its relaunch by FCA.

The costs mostly relate to the development of the all-new Giulia sedan, which spearheads Alfa's product renaissance. When it arrives Down Under late next year priced in line with its rivals from about $55,000, the rear-drive Giulia will be a direct competitor for mid-size models from the big three German car-makers including the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, BMW 3 Series and Audi A4.

Marchionne never confirmed that the second model to emerge from the same platform as the Giulia will be a crossover, but suppliers insist the car -- which sports the internal code of Project 949 -- will aim at the increasingly crowded Audi Q5/BMW X3/Mercedes-Benz GLC segment.

Based on the same modular rear- and all-wheel drive 'Giorgio' architecture as the Giulia, the crossover will be on sale by September 2016. While the Giulia will be shown in full at next month’s Frankfurt motor show, Project 949 will likely have a stand-alone static unveil before hitting the Paris show in 2016.

Beyond that, though, Marchionne refused to be drawn on the rollout of the new models off the Giulia architecture, even though a coupe and a convertible are both outlined in the company's five-year investment plan, along with a player in the Audi A6/BMW 5 Series/Mercedes-Benz E-Class segment by the end of 2017.

The architecture will also spawn a full-size SUV to compete against the Audi Q7/BMW X5/Mercedes-Benz GLE, while two smaller cars will take over from the lukewarm Giulietta in 2018.

“We are taking a very hard look at the sequencing of the products that we are launching to make sure that we get the biggest bang for the buck from the utilisation of the architecture in terms of volumes,” Marchionne said.

Alfa’s €5 billion ($A7.5b) revival plan, which has been criticised by some industry observers, calls for it to sell 400,000 cars a year in 2018 -- up from less than 70,000 in 2014.

It is currently a brand with an almost exclusive European footprint and has just two mainstream production models on sale (MiTo and Giulietta).

Pictured: Alfa's 2003 Kamal concept