Alfa Romeo’s gas-powered Quadrifoglio cars are going the way of the dodo.
The Italian automaker will stop taking orders for the high-performance versions of the Giulia and Stelvio later this spring, according to Car and Driver. The move, which is sure to dismay plenty of enthusiasts out there, is part of the company’s transition to line-wide electrification.
Quadrifoglio—which is Italian for “four-leaf clover”—is Alfa’s performance line, and dates back more than a century to 1923, long before BMW’s M and Mercedes-Benz’s AMG sub-brands arrived on the scene. The high-performance cars (and, as of late, SUVs) that bear the name have modified designs, specially-tuned powertrains, and a white triangle emblem with a clover positioned on the fender just behind the front wheels. In recent years, if you were looking for an Alfa that was capable of living up to the brand’s storied legacy, a Quadrifoglio model was what you wanted.
News of the line’s discontinuation comes from about as reliable a source as you’re going to find, the Head of Alfa Romeo and Fiat North America, Larry Dominique. The executive made the announcement in a post on his LinkedIn page on Thursday. In it, he revealed the automaker will stop taking orders for the Quadrifoglio variants of the Giulia compact sedan and Stelvio mid-size SUV in April, with the production of the vehicles scheduled to finish up a few months later in June.
“2024 represents the final opportunity to order a Giulia Quadrifoglio and Stelvio Quadrifoglio with a 505-horsepower bi-turbo V-6!” he wrote. “This is the final chance to own a Quadrifoglio with only combustion engine technology as we continue our metamorphosis to an electrified future, but this is not the end of the story.”
As disappointing as the news may be, there’s still hope for the Quadrifoglio lovers out there. As Dominique’s statement makes clear, this is just the final opportunity to buy a “Quadrifoglio with only combustion engine technology.” Alfa isn’t done with the line for good, it’s just going to take a break from it as the company refocuses on hybrid- and fully battery-powered vehicles, according to the magazine. There are rumors that the Giulia Quadrifoglio will return before the end of the decade as an EV with over 1,000 hp.
