ALFA mania!
A new model every year until 2026, a return to its passionate Italian origins and a flagship SUV out in September. Get set for...
AS VALENTINE’s Day looms on Monday and couples around the world celebrate, what better time to reflect on a car brand renowned for its passion and emotion.
Even the name Alfa Romeo evokes the romance of the road — and also of starcrossed lovers Romeo and Juliet — a point not lost on the car maker, which named one of its vehicles ‘Giulietta’.
This week, Alfa Romeo announced a long overdue comeback for the brand, starting with its new Tonale SUV crossover — as part of a five-year plan that will see a new model every year until 2026.
The move comes at a good time. For despite a wonderful history and heritage and with legions of fans known as ‘Alfistas’ — including impressionist Rory Bremner — Alfa Romeo has in recent years appeared to lose its way. indeed, it has proved to be the brilliantly evocative brand that never quite fulfilled its potential.
ROSE-TINTED GLASSES
As A young trainee journalist in the Midlands, i pined for a classic Alfa Romeo spider, as driven by actor Dustin Hoffman playing Benjamin Braddock in the 1967 film The Graduate.
sadly, i couldn’t stretch to the asking price, so contented myself with a muchloved MG Midget.
Years later, in the mid-1990s, i attended the launch of the re-born and redesigned spider. But the moment had passed, though never the nagging ‘what if?’.
This week Alfa Romeo’s new bosses suggested it was time to recapture that passionate spirit and realise the unfulfilled potential of more recent years.
Alfa Romeo is now part of the giant stellantis conglomerate — the world’s fourth biggest car maker, created just over a year ago. it moved there when the FiatChrysler FCA group merged with the Peugeot-Citroen PSA groups. stellantis also includes Britain’s Vauxhall, Germany’s Opel, Jeep in the U.s. and italy’s Maserati.
Bosses are now in the process of revitalising the Alfa Romeo brand. The launch this week of the Tonale SUV crossover is but an initial step in that journey to kickstart a ‘new era’ for the brand.
The Tonale is a decent enough looking car. But it is just an SUV, albeit an electrified hybrid one.
Alfa Romeo should really shout true italian passion, sporty chic and glamour. But there are some welcome signs that Alfa Romeo’s bosses have got the message and are acting on it.
HEARTFELT INNOVATION
MOTOR industry veteran JeanPhilippe imparato, now chief executive of Alfa Romeo, is keen to stress that he ‘gets it’.
Launching the Tonale this week, he spoke of his own ‘journey’ with Alfa Romeo — revealing that the first car in which he was driven as a baby by his father was his parents’ Giulia Azzurro.
He said: ‘My father was an Alfa Romeo enthusiast, so an Alfetta followed in 1972, then a 2-litre GTV and a V6 GTV.’
His wife Magali is also a keen Alfista, he said. Her first car was an Alfasud and she now drives a stelvio Veloce in visconti green.
Mr imparato said: ‘The Alfa Romeo legend has been with me since childhood. Yet nonetheless, i’ve been surprised and moved by the passion that animates our “tribe” of fans and clubs across the world. i feel their love and their expectation.
‘What should we do, then, to live up to their hopes? Accelerate our evolution, is my answer.’
And that is the spur to the ‘metamorphosis’ of Alfa Romeo, he said. ‘We are surrounded by change. We are witnessing what is possibly the most radical transformation since cars were invented. At Alfa Romeo, we are called to
innovate — while still “thinking with the heart”.’
That includes electrification and digitalisation but in the brand’s own unique way.
MOVING FORWARD
ALFA Romeo is now starting a three-step plan that embraces premium quality with no compromise, a ‘builtto-order’ model and a new distribution model.
The change begins with the new Tonale, a car for everyday driving but one that also hopes to be as good as the best Alfa Romeos of the past. With its striking and aggressive styling, the 4.53 metre (14 ft 10 in) long Tonale has two levels of electrification at launch: hybrid and plug-in hybrid.
making its debut is the 160hp petrol hybrid, which uses a turbo-charged 1.5 litre engine linked to a sevenspeed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. This model arrives in the UK in September priced at around £35,000.
following by the end of the year will be Alfa Romeo’s first ever plug-in hybrid (PHeV) model — with a 275hp combination of a 1.3 litre twin turbo-charged petrol engine linked to a 15.5 kWh battery, giving it an electric-only range of around 38 miles (50 miles around town).
It will charge fully in twoand-a-half hours using a fastcharging 7.4 kW charger. It accelerates from rest to 62 mph in 6.2 seconds. Alfa’s first fully electric car is expected from 2025 with only electric new models from 2027.
The new Tonale is not short on tech either. The car includes some partially autonomous features such as lane assist and autonomous emergency braking.
It also has blind spot and ‘driver drowsiness’ detection, semi-autonomous parking, a new infotainment and sat-nav system, a main 10.25 in (26cm) wide touchscreen and 12.3in (31cm) wide driver instrument panel. It has Amazon’s Alexa voice control, and by using a code-key you can have parcels delivered securely by courier to the boot of your car.
It all sounds like a promising start to a new era.
And I suspect that will be the view of millions of Alfa Romeo fans yearning for a return to form by the firm with an injection of real passion befitting Valentine’s Day.
Here’s hoping, Alfa Romeo.