20 years after poor sales drove the Italian automaker out of the U.S. market, Alfa Romeo returned to the United States in 2015. Now, after nearly a decade back in the U.S., it appears the manufacturer may be repeating its past.
So far this year, Alfa Romeo has sold just 6,800 cars — its lowest sales figures since 2016. Back then, almost all of Alfa's sales came from its $60,000 two-seater 4C sports car. But, in 2024, multiple SUV and car offerings still aren't enough to stop the downward sales spiral.
The brand’s poor sales combined with mounting pressure to perform from its parent company, Stellantis, begs the question: Is Alfa Romeo set to repeat its past?
Too many cars and too few buyers
Alfa Romeo’s current situation isn’t good, but it’s also not unique. Virtually all of Stellantis’s brands are wrestling with excessive inventory and a lack of demand.
Early this month Stellantis announced that it would be cutting shipments of new cars to the U.S. and offering incentives through the end of the year in a bid to lower their inventory.
Stellantis recently reported a 20% year-over-year drop in U.S. brand sales during the third quarter of 2024. Jeep and Ram, both owned by Stellantis, reported notable declines, with Ram sales down by 19% and Jeep trailing behind with a 6% decrease.
But where Alfa Romeo is unique is in the severity of its problem. The automaker reported a 29% decline in year-over-year sales.
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Alfa Romeo’s oversupply problem
The flipside of Alpha’s sales troubles is some of the most severe inventory glut in the entire U.S. auto market.
Even among other Stellantis brands experiencing similarly excessive inventory, Alpha Romeo has one of the highest days of supply — a measure of inventory relative to the brand’s sales rate.
In fact, Alfa has some of the most severe supply glut of any car brand in the country. According to data from CarEdge , Alfa has 193 days of supply. Only Ram and Mini face worse inventory problems than Alfa.
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What’s most astonishing about Alfa’s oversupply problem is that its total new inventory (just over 4,000 cars according to CarEdge) is far below the industry average. This combination — the fact that Alfa has the third highest days of supply figure of any automotive brand and one of the lowest total inventories — is a testament to just how few people are buying new Alfa Romeos.
A bright spot soured
Alfa Romeo’s newest model, the Tonale, has been a relative bright spot for the brand. Since it went on sale in 2023, the new PHEV SUV has helped soften the sharp decline in sales experienced by the Giulia and Stelvio.
But even the Tonale has generated its own headaches for the automaker. This week, Stellantis recalled over 21,000 Dodge Hornets and Alfa Romeo Tonales, which share much of the same equipment, for brake pedal failure. In the recall, the manufacturer said “the brake pedal may collapse and cause a loss of brake function.”
According to the NHTSA report , the recall will affect 3,795 Tonales — nearly 80% of all Tonales that have been sold in the United States.
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An eerie message from Stellantis’s CEO
The pressure is on Alfa Romeo and its sibling brands at Stellantis. Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares recently told reporters at the Paris Auto Show that the company will be reviewing its portfolio of 14 automotive brands as early as 2026.
“We will review each brand’s performance at about two-thirds of the way through the Dare Forward 2030 plan, so you could expect decisions in two to three years,” Tavares told reporters.
Alfa Romeo is set to debut the next-generation Stelvio in 2025, followed by the new Giulia in 2026. In 2027, the brand plans to introduce a larger SUV, offering both gas engines and electric powertrains, aimed at competing with the Porsche Cayenne and focusing heavily on the US market.
But for all the company’s plans, it's unclear if it will avoid the chopping block come 2026.
Final thoughts
Even if Alfa Romeo can recover, it’s unlikely to offer the same kinds of cars that made its return to the U.S. so exciting in the first place. The 4C and the Giulia Quadrifoglio are long gone without any real replacements in sight — we don’t count their electrified successors.
Whether or not new SUVs and crossovers help the brand continue in the United States, the spirit of Alfa Romeo is quickly flickering out.
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