Alfa Romeo has come up with a new special specification for all three of its model lines. Called Tributo Italiano, it pays homage to the country of origin of the cars, with it forming the flagship trim grade of the Tonale, Giulia and Stelvio lines.
Red, white and green
The key stylistic features of the Tributo Italiano cars are a black roof, teamed to one of three body colours - Alfa Red, Alfa White or Montreal Green, these of course, representing the Italian tricolore flag. Said item is also added to the door mirror caps in a discreet strip, while there's also the option of an opening sunroof on the Tonale.
Several other features are bespoke to the Tributo Italiano cars. All three have a front 'V' grille in a specific colour - for the Giulia and Stelvio, it's black, while it's Dark Miron on the Tonale. They also run on large alloy wheels, 19-inch items on the Giulia, 20s on the Tonale and huge 21-inch rims for the Stelvio. Behind all of these are red-finished Brembo brake callipers, while the lower bodykit of all cars is fully body-coloured, this being a first for the Tonale.
As with the colour of the grille, the newer Tonale gets bespoke treatment for its Tributo Italiano model, compared to the Giulia and Stelvio cars. To team up to the colour of its V front end, it has skid plates in the bumper and side/front accents in matte Dark Miron, while it also benefits from adaptive full-LED Matrix headlights and chrome-plated twin exhaust exits on the Q4 Plug-In Hybrid version.
Leather-lined cabin with red detailing
Inside, all Tributo Italianos benefit from black perforated leather sports seats with hints of red, while the front head restraints have a special emblem embroidered into them to mark their status. All three models have red stitching for the dashboard, seats and door cards, while the Tonale gets a 'carbon design' dashboard fascia complete with the Alfa Romeo logo, ambient interior lighting and aluminium sill plates.
Standard equipment on the Tributo Italiano Alfas includes dual-zone climate control, a heated steering wheel with aluminium shift paddles, the company's latest infotainment system, heated and cooled front seats, and a 14-speaker Harman Kardon sound system complete with subwoofer. Both the Tonale and Stelvio SUVs have a hands-free powered tailgate as standard, too.
Powerful engines offered in all three
For motive power, the Giulia and Stelvio Tributo Italiano models can be fitted with either a 280hp 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine or the 210hp 2.2-litre four-pot turbodiesel. Either will drive all four wheels via Q4 AWD and an eight-speed automatic gearbox, and there's also an option of a 160hp turbodiesel, but it's unlikely this or the 2.2 will be made available here, so we'll have the 280hp petrol to go at.
The Tonale Tributo Italiano, meanwhile, has the choice of the 1.5-litre petrol-electric hybrid with 160hp and a seven-speed twin-clutch automatic transmission or the 280hp Q4 Plug-In Hybrid. That has an electric capability in excess of 80km, while a combined range from both its power sources is more than 600km.
All three Tributo Italiano models have Alfa's 'Dual-Stage Valve' active suspension with electronically controlled damping, so they should drive in the sharp manner required of cars from this particular company. Safety, meanwhile, is handled by Level 2 autonomous driving, thanks to an advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) roster, which includes a 360-degree, high-resolution camera system, blind spot detectors, rear cross-path detector, side sensors, and automatically dipping electrochromatic external mirrors.