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2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 Crossover SUV Spied Wearing a Fiat 500L Body

After it presented the 2016 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde at the Museo Storico Alfa Romeo, the Italian outfit is not going to rest on its laurels just yet. A plethora of all-new models will follow the Giulia (Tipo 952) compact executive sedan, starting with the 2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 crossover SUV test mule featured in our most recent spy photos.
2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 Crossover SUV 8 photos
Photo: SB-Medien
2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 Crossover SUV2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 Crossover SUV2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 Crossover SUV2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 Crossover SUV2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 Crossover SUV2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 Crossover SUV2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 Crossover SUV
Alfa Romeo intends to sell over 400,000 cars per year by 2018, with about 150,000 of the automobiles to reach American dealerships. The all-new 2016 Alfa Romeo Giulia will be at the forefront of the Italian invasion, but this is only the beginning of the company’s long-awaited rebirth. The first of those all-new models that will follow the Giulia is a crossover SUV internally known as Tipo 949 and based on the Giulia sedan.

Another crossover SUV will follow soon after, joined by a compact executive car believed to be the two-door coupe version of the Giulia sedan. A speciality vehicle (we bet a tenner it’s a two-seater roadster based on the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata) and two compact models (including a Giulietta replacement) are the last of the bunch. For now, let us focus our attention on the 2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 crossover.

It may wear a makeshift Fiat 500L body shell, but look more closely and you’ll spot what’s what: the extended wheelbase, huge rear quarter windows, two exhaust tips, raised ground clearance, and bulge in the lengthened hood are the name of the game here. This isn’t a 500L, but an Alfa that wears better camouflage than Cpt. Willard at the end of Apocalypse Now.

Alfa Romeo of North America brand head Reid Bigland said back in April that a D-segment SUV is slated to arrive late in 2016 or in early 2017. To go against the likes of the Porsche Macan, BMW X3, and Mercedes-Benz GLC, the 2017 Alfa Romeo Tipo 949 crossover SUV will receive pretty much the same RWD/AWD vehicle architecture as the Giulia (Tipo 952).

That translates to a six-speed manual or a ZF-developed 8-speed automatic, an engine selection that comprises of four and six-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel powerplants, as well as a high-performance variant with 510 horsepower courtesy of a Ferrari-developed 3.0 twin-turbo V6.

Like the Giulia QV, the crossover SUV has all the chances to receive Quadrifoglio Verde insignias when animated by the Ferrari six-banger. As far as the 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) sprint is concerned, the Alfa Romeo Giulia QV can do it in just 3.9 seconds. Have a guess what the SUV will be capable of...
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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