New Alfa Romeo Giulia due in six months

Alfa Romeo fans, often referred to as Alfisti, have something to cheer about as a new report from Automotive News Europe says the company is on track to release its brand-new mid-sized sedan in mid-2015.

The industry journal quoted Harald Wester, Alfa Romeo's brand manager, saying a new model will be revealed in June 2015, and although he didn't specify which model, the big money says it'll be a mid-sized rear-drive sedan.

Originally the Guilia name was attached to the project, codenamed '952' within the Alfa Romeo organisation, but that may change by the time the successor to the 159 sedan arrives. Expected to rival the BMW 3 Series and Volvo S60, the upcoming Alfa sedan will be the first mainstream rear-drive Alfa Romeo in almost a quarter of century and is based on a new platform that underpins the company's hopes of turning around it's abysmal sales.

The new platform will underpin up to eight new models, starting with the new sedan pictured here, and expected to be followed up by an SUV. Other models in the works include a flagship large luxury sedan and a bigger, top-shelf SUV. Alfa hopes when it's new range fills out dealerships late this decade, after an investment of five billion euros, it can grow global sales from around 75,000, it's paltry 2013 total, to 400,000 in 2018.

The upcoming rear-drive sedan, rendered here by Automedia artists, will be crucial for the brand and will be a litmus test of both the new technology and design language the company brings to the table. If either of them don't weigh up, Alfa Romeo could face another decade in the sales doldrums.

The new Italian sedan tipped to arrive in June 2015 will be powered by a range of different engines, with garden-variety models likely to get four-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel engines worth between 88 and 150kW.

However there's also been some hubbub concerning a go-fast version of Alfa Romeo's upcoming sedan that could wear GTA or Quadrifoglio Verde badges. Believed to be offered with slippery diff, dual-clutch gearbox and a Maserati/Ferrari-sourced turbo-petrol V6 engine the high-output version would output more than 300kW creating a new high-performance halo Alfa to attract more attention to the brand.

The circa-$150,000 Alfa Romeo would target the BMW M3, and there's also the potential for a 260kW version of the Ghibli's diesel V6.

Although the new Alfa Romeo 'Giulia' sedan will be the first mainstream rear-drive sedan from the Italian car-maker in 23 years, the company has experienced some success with high-end rear-drive sports cars of late, such as the 8C and 4C models, the latter expected to arrive in Australia very soon.

Alfa Romeo has two models available in Australia, the Giulietta and MiTo hatchbacks, after the 159 sedan stopped selling in 2013. Strong sales of the Giulietta (2093 units) have buoyed the brand to a total of 2292 sales to the end of October 2014, up from 1887 in 2013, representing an increase of 21.5 per cent.