The Alfa Romeo Giulia->ke3472 will get more variants beyond the 503-horsepower 2016 Alfa Romeo Quadrifoglio Verde sedan that was recently unveiled in June of 2015. The new variants should be shown at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show->ke235 in September and could include a four-cylinder and possibly a diesel V-6. Car Magazine caught up with chief engineer Philippe Krief, who discussed the new variants when asked about Giulia’s twin-turbo V-6.

The new variants are likely to make do without some of the Giulia Quadrifoglio Verde’s sportier elements, like active aerodynamics that change in profile depending on the amount of grip or straight-line speed needed. Other cost-saving casualties could include all-wheel drive (in favor of rear-wheel drive) and the Quadrifoglio’s trick torque-vectoring differentials. The carbon-fiber roof, trunk, seats and prop-shaft will likely be replaced with steel or aluminum items.

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Krief shared a few other interesting anecdotes about the Giulia’s development, which took just two-and-a-half years. "You ask every carmaker: doing a car in two years, everyone will tell you it’s not possible," Krief told Car. "The industry standard says four, the longest say five years, everywhere in the world. We had to do it in two and a half years," Marchionne said. And he’s right – the only way to achieve that is to be different.’

Krief assembled a small skunkworks team of 10, under the authority of FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne, with each member specialized in one department. “It was 29 April, 2013. I was working at Ferrari and received a phone call saying ‘You have to come and do the new Alfa, we have to do something totally different. So please take a bunch of guys, go somewhere and think about that. You have two years and two months!’”

Now known as ‘head skunk’ within Alfa Romeo->ke1386 headquarters, Krief previously worked at Ferrari->ke252 and helped develop the 2010 Ferrari 458 Italia and 2014 Ferrari 458 Speciale. He promises the Giulia will have some of that Ferrari sparkle in its handling.

“Ferrari had a big advantage of having rear-wheel drive, so it’s exactly the same kind of stuff we wanted to put on the Giulia, this kind of feeling. It has to be precise, very quick, very agile, very stable. It drives fantastically really.”

Why it matters

When bringing a new car to market, companies will almost always introduce the base model first, and then faster variants a few months or years later. With the Giulia, Alfa Romeo seems to be doing the exact opposite. It’s basically like BMW->ke178 introducing the M5->ke2922 and then the 535i a few months later. But that’s good news for prospective buyers, because the Giulia seems to have enough inherent sportiness and technology that even less-expensive models should be pretty special.

2016 Alfa Romeo Giulia

You can check our speculative review of the 2016 Giulia here.