If you’ve ever wondered who actually builds the engines inside your Alfa Romeo, you’re asking a smarter question than most. The answer isn’t simple — and that’s what makes it so interesting. Stick with this to the end, and you’ll know exactly where every drop of Italian fire comes from.
Stellantis Owns the Brand — But Italy Builds the Heart
Stellantis is the parent company behind Alfa Romeo today. It formed on January 16, 2021, through a merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and France’s PSA Group. That makes it the fourth-largest automaker in the world, overseeing fourteen brands from Jeep to Peugeot.
But here’s the key point: Stellantis controls the business decisions. The engines themselves? Those stay Italian.
The corporate structure gives Alfa Romeo the financial muscle of a global giant while keeping its engineering centered in Italy. Think of it like a sports team with deep-pocketed owners — the money flows in, but the players on the field are still Italian through and through.
| Brand | Country | Notable CEO |
|---|---|---|
| Stellantis N.V. | Netherlands (HQ) | Carlos Tavares |
| Alfa Romeo | Italy | Santo Ficili |
| Maserati | Italy | Santo Ficili |
| Fiat | Italy | Olivier François |
| Jeep | United States | Bob Broderdorf |
The Termoli Plant: Where the Real Magic Happens
If you drive a Giulia or Stelvio in the U.S., your engine was born at the Termoli Powertrain Plant in Italy’s Molise region. This facility opened in 1972 and has produced over twenty million engines since then. That’s not a typo.
In 2015, the late Sergio Marchionne pushed a €500 million investment into Termoli specifically to rebuild it around two new Alfa Romeo engine families. The goal was clear: create powertrains worthy of the brand’s racing legacy.
The 2.9-Liter V6 Quadrifoglio Engine (690T)
This is the crown jewel. The 690T engine — a twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6 — goes into every Giulia Quadrifoglio and Stelvio Quadrifoglio sold in North America. It makes 505 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque.
Between 2015 and 2024, Termoli produced nearly 40,000 units of this engine. A dedicated high-precision assembly area handles it, using advanced Comau cylinder head tooling and workers trained specifically for performance engine builds.
The 2.0-Liter GME Four-Cylinder (Giorgio Engine)
The Global Medium Engine — nicknamed the “Giorgio” engine — powers the standard Giulia and Stelvio you’ll find at most U.S. dealerships. It’s an all-aluminum, twin-scroll turbocharged unit making 280 horsepower and 306 lb-ft of torque.
This engine was built around rear-wheel-drive priorities and lightweight construction — exactly what you’d want in a sport sedan or SUV fighting German rivals on performance turf.
The Ferrari Connection: What’s Real and What’s Hype
People love saying “Alfa Romeo has a Ferrari engine.” It’s not quite right — but it’s not wrong either.
The honest answer is: the V6 is Ferrari-derived, not Ferrari-made.
Gianluca Pivetti: The Man Who Bridged Both Worlds
Gianluca Pivetti, who once led gasoline engine development at Ferrari, joined Alfa Romeo in 2013 with a specific mission — build an engine that reclaims the brand’s soul. His team worked out of Modena and drew on the geometry and technical DNA of Ferrari’s F154 V8.
The similarities are real:
- Matching 90-degree bank angle
- Near-identical bore-to-stroke ratio
- Turbocharger placement borrowed from the Ferrari layout
But the Alfa Romeo 690T is its own engine. It even has a cylinder deactivation system — one bank shuts down during highway cruising to save fuel — something the Ferrari unit doesn’t do.
Philippe Krief: Ferrari’s Chassis Man Joins the Team
It wasn’t just the engine. Philippe Krief, the chief technical officer for the Giorgio platform, also came from Ferrari. He made sure the chassis and powertrain worked together as a system — which is why the Giulia Quadrifoglio feels more like a supercar in a suit than a typical sport sedan.
Pratola Serra: The Diesel and Modular Engine Hub
Not all Alfa Romeo engines come from Termoli. The Pratola Serra facility in Avellino, Italy — officially called the Fabbrica Motori Automobilistici (FMA) — handles diesel and modular engine production.
The 2.2-Liter Diesel
Alfa Romeo’s 2.2-liter diesel — sold in European Giulia and Stelvio models — is the brand’s first all-aluminum diesel engine. Pratola Serra builds it with a Multijet II common-rail injection system and a variable-geometry turbocharger for sharp throttle response.
This plant goes way back. It started as a joint venture between Alfa Romeo and Nissan in the 1980s, eventually becoming a cornerstone of the wider Fiat Group’s engine operations. The iconic Twin Spark engines from the 1990s? Also built here.
Pomigliano: The Hybrid Era Begins
The Alfa Romeo Tonale marks a different chapter. It’s built at the Giambattista Vico plant in Pomigliano d’Arco, near Naples, and its plug-in hybrid powertrain has a more complicated origin story.
The 1.3-Liter FireFly PHEV System
The Tonale PHEV Q4 — the version sold in the U.S. — uses a 1.3-liter turbocharged four-cylinder from the Global Small Engine (GSE) family. This engine is built by FCA Poland Powertrain in Bielsko-Białaand then shipped to Italy for final vehicle assembly.
It features MultiAir III technology — an electro-hydraulic valve system that adjusts intake valves in real time. The gasoline engine drives the front wheels. A rear electric motor handles the back. Combined output: 285 horsepower.
One fun fact: the Dodge Hornet is essentially a rebadged Tonale built on the same Pomigliano production lines. Same plant, same powertrains, different badge and styling. It’s a perfect example of how Stellantis stretches one investment across multiple brands.
| Model | Assembly Plant | Primary Engine Source |
|---|---|---|
| Giulia / Stelvio | Cassino, Italy | Termoli / Pratola Serra, Italy |
| Tonale / Dodge Hornet | Pomigliano, Italy | Bielsko-Biala, Poland |
| Maserati Grecale | Cassino, Italy | Termoli, Italy |
Alfa Romeo and Maserati: Closer Than You Think
The Maserati Nettuno V6 — the engine powering the MC20 supercar and high-performance Grecale — shares significant DNA with the Alfa Romeo 690T. Same 90-degree bank angle, similar structural dimensions, and both trace their ancestry back to the Ferrari F154 V8.
Maserati pushed further with a dual-spark pre-chamber ignition system pulled straight from Formula 1 technology. That engine gets assembled at the Maserati Engine Lab in Modena.
Both brands now operate under the BottegaFuoriserie initiative — a creative hub where Alfa Romeo and Maserati engineers collaborate on bespoke vehicles and performance innovations. The practical result: Alfa Romeo’s next generation of high-performance engines will be shaped by the same minds building Maserati’s supercars.
American-Built GME Engines: What U.S. Buyers Should Know
Here’s something worth understanding if you live in the U.S. The GME engine family — the same architecture as the Giulia’s 2.0-liter — is also built stateside.
In 2020, FCA announced a $400 million investment to retool the Indiana Transmission Plant II in Kokomo for GME production. American-built “Hurricane” variants now power Jeep models like the Wrangler and Cherokee. The Dundee Engine Plant in Michigan began producing the Hurricane 4 EVO in 2025, targeting an eventual replacement for the Pentastar V6.
Your Giulia or Stelvio still gets its engine from Termoli. But the shared architecture means parts, technical knowledge, and service infrastructure exist widely across the U.S. Stellantis dealer network. Italian pedigree, American support system.
The Busso Legacy: Where It All Started
To understand who makes Alfa Romeo engines now, you need to know where they came from.
The legendary Busso V6 — named after designer Giuseppe Busso, himself a former Ferrari engineer — was produced from 1979 until 2005 at the Arese plant near Milan. Chrome intake manifolds. All-aluminum construction. A sound that enthusiasts still talk about in reverent tones.
When Arese closed in 2005, Alfa Romeo entered a partnership era with General Motors, producing the JTS engine range. These engines mixed GM blocks with Alfa-designed cylinder heads — a pragmatic solution that never quite captured the brand’s spirit.
The Giorgio project changed everything. It brought former Ferrari talent back in, rebuilt the manufacturing infrastructure at Termoli, and gave Alfa Romeo engines that are genuinely its own again.
What’s Coming Next: Electrification and the eDCT
The Termoli plant won’t keep building only combustion engines forever. Starting September 2026, it begins manufacturing electrified dual-clutch transmissions (eDCT) — a €41 million investment that keeps the plant central to hybrid vehicle production across Stellantis brands.
The three core combustion engines — FireFly, GME, and the V6 — continue production in the near term. But Alfa Romeo’s target is a fully electric lineup by 2027 in its core markets.
That means the question of who makes Alfa Romeo “engines” will eventually evolve into who makes their battery systems and electric drive modules. Facilities like the Kokomo Casting Plant are already updating for electric drive module components — keeping American industrial sites in the picture even during the EV transition.
The Italian manufacturing footprint stays intact through this shift. The soul of the brand — performance-first engineering built in Italy — isn’t going anywhere. It’s just getting a different kind of horsepower behind it.
