Around the halfway-point on the drive along the infamous Stelvio Pass, we encounter a meteorological metaphor. In Bormio, the town where we start the drive, the weather is clear and sunny. At the summit, some 20 kilometres up the highest paved road in the Alps, the sky is bright again. In between these two altitudinal extremes, we discover a thick layer of midmorning mist and fog that refuses to burn off.

For the time being, the 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio is mired in the mist. There's a degree of uncertainty over what lies around the bend for this first-ever SUV from a storied purveyor of Italian sports cars. In fact, there's a degree of uncertainty over the Alfa Romeo brand itself. The very idea of Alfa Romeo is still new to customers in North America. The brand has a rich, continuous history at home, 107 years and counting. But it only just returned to these shores in late 2014 and the Stelvio joins the fleet at a critical juncture.