[KrisW]

The Giulietta Sportwagon was originally scheduled for this year, but now appears to be cancelled. There were a couple of renders, one of the interior, but they seem to have disappeared so completely from the web that I suspect they were part of a pre-launch leak campaign that has been pulled.

Giulia is confirmed for a Sportwagon, but yes, a Giulietta Sportwagon would have been a perfect-sized replacement for a 156SW.

 

[KrisW]

I doubt AR have anywhere near the funds to make their own from scratch.

Alfa have enough money, but blowing it all on a ground-up SUV would be a complete waste. Especially when they've already got an Alfa-designed SUV: the new Jeep Cherokee, the vehicle which will provide the running gear for the Alfa SUV, is derived from the Giulietta.

 

[KrisW]

Alfa have designed the new Jeep Cherokee? Really? I'd be surprised if anyone but Jeep designed the new Cherokee,

Be surprised, then. Jeep did the bodywork, interior, and made changes to the rear for their 4WD system, but the rest of the car's design comes from FIAT, via Dodge. The Giulietta design was widened and lengthened to build the Dodge Dart, and this design was used by Jeep as the basis of the Cherokee.

See this article for details: (source)

lost in the discussion of the Cherokee's appearance is the fact that the vehicle is built on the Fiat-Chrysler Compact U.S.-Wide platform underpinning the Dodge Dart.