At the end of the 1930s, the Italian Ministry of War proposed to Fiat and Alfa Romeo the construction of a vehicle suitable for the colonies of Italian East Africa. Alfa built an off-road vehicle based on the platform of the 6C 2500 Turismo, with a 2443cc in-line 6-cylinder engine. Testing began in October 1938 and the 6C 2500 Coloniale was delivered, starting in 1941, to the Italian army. The car proved unsuitable for certain uses and soon enough Alfa Romeo set to work on an avant-garde project which, however, was never completed.