An Alfa Romeo VIN built for the U.S. market starts with ZAR on cars such as the Giulia or ZAS on SUVs such as the Stelvio and Tonale. Positions 4-8 carry the model, body and engine, 9 is the check digit, 10 is the model year, and 11 is the plant. Cassino (Piedimonte San Germano) builds most Giulia and Stelvio cars; Pomigliano d'Arco builds the Tonale. Decode it on vPIC, then run recalls and a history report before you pay.
We ran Alfa Romeo patterns through NHTSA's free vPIC decoder in mid October 2026 because used listings still paste a Jeep or Dodge VIN onto an Alfa ad, and because Stellantis siblings share some hardware without sharing the same WMI. Alfa is part of Stellantis with Jeep and Dodge, but the codes are Alfa-specific. New to the 17 positions? Start with how to decode a VIN. For open campaigns after the decode, use our Alfa Romeo recall check by VIN.
Positions 1-3: ZAR cars, ZAS SUVs
vPIC maps ZAR to Alfa Romeo S.p.A. passenger cars in Italy and ZAS to Alfa Romeo multipurpose vehicles. A 2024 Giulia Sprint pattern starting ZARFAMAN returned Cassino, Italy, a 2.0-liter four, rear-wheel drive and sedan body. A 2024 Giulia Quadrifoglio pattern starting ZARFAMEV returned the same plant with a 2.9-liter six and Quadrifoglio series notes. A 2024 Stelvio Sprint starting ZASPAKAN came back as an AWD SUV with a 2.0-liter four, still Cassino. A Tonale-class pattern with plant code 3 pointed at Pomigliano, Italy. So if a seller swears a Tonale "came from Cassino with the Giulia," believe the plant letter instead.
Positions 4-8: Giulia, Stelvio, Tonale and the engine field
The middle block encodes model family, body, restraints and engine. In our runs, a 2020 Giulia Ti starting ZARFANBN decoded to Piedimonte San Germano / Cassino Assembly with a 2.0-liter and AWD. Displacement often fills in cleanly on modern Alfas: 2.0 on Sprint and Ti cars, 2.9 on Quadrifoglio. Honestly, that 2.9 twin-turbo six is the same basic family Maserati uses in some cars, which is useful context and still does not make the VIN a Maserati WMI. A blank model field means you verify the door jamb and window sticker yourself, not that the VIN is fake.
Positions 9-11: check digit, year and plant
Position 9 is the check digit in 49 CFR 565.15. Typos usually fail; cloned VINs can pass. Position 10 is the model year (L was 2020, M was 2021, N was 2022, R was 2024 in our samples). Position 11 is the plant. Cassino showed as Cassino or Piedimonte San Germano depending on the model year filing, and Tonale pointed at Pomigliano. Match the dash plate to the door jamb and the title before you argue about trim.
Recalls that follow Alfa Romeo VINs
Always run the full VIN. Campaigns are tied to build windows, not just the year badge. NHTSA recall 25V-586 covers certain 2017-2019 Giulia and 2018-2019 Stelvio cars for a fuel pump that can fail and cut drive power. 25V-667 covers about 62,910 2020-2025 Giulia and Stelvio vehicles whose rearview camera image may not display properly. Look, an open camera campaign on a Giulia is not a "drive it home and sort it later" purchase if you reverse out of a driveway every day. Our NHTSA recall check by VIN guide explains incomplete versus completed status.
We've seen seller PDFs that quietly omit open Stellantis campaigns. Pull the recall check yourself.
After the decode: history, and what it costs
For model context, Car and Driver's Giulia page and Consumer Reports on Alfa Romeo are useful starting points. None of a VIN decode shows salvage brands, odometer jumps, auction damage or insurance claims. Those come from DMV, insurer, auction and shop feeds, which CARFAX describes as the basis of its reports. Pull your own copy. As of mid October 2026, a CARFAX report through us is about $5.50 as a guest or about $4.50 as a member, and a CARFAX plus AutoCheck bundle is about $6.75, against roughly $39.99 to $44.99 at retail. Confirm at checkout. We are a licensed CARFAX and AutoCheck reseller, not affiliated with CARFAX, AutoCheck, or Experian.
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