Alfa Romeo Giulia Sedan Will Be Unveiled Wednesday In Milan

Alfa Romeo will unveil in Milan on Wednesday the Giulia midsize sedan, the struggling automaker’s first mass-produced car to compete with the BMW 3 Series, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the Audi A4. This is Alfa’s first mass-produced sedan since the release of the Giulietta five-door compact sedan in 2010.

The automaker’s blurry teaser photo, and the spy shots of a covered-up Giulia captured recently by an Italian auto blog, suggests rear-design cues from the Maserati Ghibli, with which the Giulia is rumored to share components.

Alfa will post updates of the Giulia unveil at the reopened Alfa Romeo Historical Museum in Milan during Expo Milan 2015 on Alfa Romeo’s Twitter feed and Facebook page.

The sporty sedan rests on Alfa’s new all-wheel-drive Giorgio platform and will come with a 510-horsepower, twin turbocharged V-6 gasoline engine retooled from an engine built by Ferrari for the Maserati Ghibli and Quarttroporte sedan, according to Automotive News Europe.

Ferrari, Maserati and Alfa Romeo are owned by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), which will post Giulia-unveiling updates on its website here. Most of the Giulia’s specs, and even its name, will not be confirmed by Alfa until Wednesday’s event.

Alfa Romeo is pushing for a comeback from years during which most in the industry believe it operated at a loss. Fiat Group bought the struggling Milan company in 1986. Fiat Group became FCA after it bailed out Chrysler and merged with the American maker of Jeeps and Dodges early last year.

In November 2014, Alfa Romeo returned to the U.S. market for the first time since the mid-'90s with the niche 4C sports car as part of a $6.5 billion investment plan to unleash eight models by 2018. The company will build its first SUV (code-named project 949) in early 2017. It will compete with the Audi Q5 and BMW X3. A challenger to the Audi A6 and BMW 5 Series is also in the works. Alfa will begin production of the Giulia in November at the company’s plant near Rome. It will go on sale shortly after in Europe and reach U.S. shores by early 2017.