Alfa Romeo is homing in on the quick-and-slick SUV ideal.

Since the early 2000’s, the cream of auto manufacturing has warmed up to the idea of entering the SUV market; in the past year or so, news has broken that even Lamborghini and Bentley, among other luxe-car aristocrats, are getting in their own all-in-one designs. The market continues to evolve, too, with SUEV offerings by Jaguar, Audi and Mercedes following Tesla’s lead: Model X has sold well. All told, the SUV market shows no signs of slowing down, and the appeal of an SUV that behaves like a sports sedan continues to accrue.

Alfa, looking to re-establish a foothold in the U.S. market, has come up with its own version of a SUV with sportscar aspirations: the Stelvio.  Its namesake, evocatively, is a paved bit of Italian alpine whiplash regarded as a workout for drivers interesting in testing their own– and their car’s– mettle. And the Stelvio seems to offer what Alfa, at their best, has always offered: driving joie de vivre.

Speaking of, it might be useful here to mention the Giulia, Alfa’s new sports-sedan that wants terribly to give BMW and Audi a run for their money; considering its Italian-couture styling, responsiveness, and price-to-feature ratio, it just might, if it can be successfully marketed as a hip individualist’s choice amid a generic fleet of German offerings cluttering up the road.

The Stelvio is another in what is becoming an arch pattern for Alfa, and shares engines with the Giulia: an efficient, turbo-charged 2.0L four-cylinder that pushes 280HP, with—as in the Giulia—a Quadrifoglio upsell boasting a  twin-turbo 2.9L V6 that’ll drive 505 horses. The Stelvio Quadrifoglio will dash to 60 in 3.9 seconds, just a tenth of a second shy of the Giulia. Transmission is an 8-speed auto. The largely aluminum chassis gives the Stelvio beautiful balance, and the car will, of course, feature Alfa’s Q4 AWD.