While forced to launch humdrum crossovers to keep it on course financially, Alfa Romeo is working on ambitious plans for a future of exciting high-end EVs, including a saloon up to a staggering 1,000bhp. We've been getting the details from Alfa's boss Jean-Philippe Imparato.
Alfa remains a relatively tiny player, but last year it grew steadily. Sales were up by 22 per cent across Europe even as the overall car market shrank. Profits rose too, as costs fell, he says. And this year the Tonale should add more.
Next year there's Alfa's first full-EV. But don't get too excited: it's another crossover, smaller than the Tonale. It'll be based, Imparato confirms, on the Stellantis CMP platform, available as petrol and electric. In other words, an Alfa'd version the Jeep Avenger or Vauxhall Mokka.
More interesting are a pair of new full-electric big cars, saloon and crossover, for 2025 and 2026. Presumably it's the crossover first, as they sell more? His reply is intriguing. "Not necessarily. With an EV you speak first of range. A saloon is better for that."
He calls this saloon the new Giulia. "The Giulia is back. Alejandro [Mesonero-Romanos, design chief at Alfa] is on it at the moment. We have to design a Giulia we will love. A connection with the past without jeopardising the future."
There seems to be plenty to love about the performance. "It starts at 350bhp. The Veloce is 800bhp. The Quadrifoglio is 1,000bhp." It uses the upcoming Stellantis Group STLA Large platform, with 800V, ultra-rapid charging and range up to 500 miles. "I don't want you to suffer inconvenience from switching to EV. The question for me is not whether to switch to EV, it's to get the right handling and agility." He calls that quality 'electroleggera'.
He says you'll be able to tell the Alfas apart from Stellantis platform-shared cars by their design, inside out, and dynamics. But he acknowledges he can't prove the dynamics until we drive them.
After the electric Giulia and Stelvio replacements in 2025 and '26 comes an even bigger EV in 2027. He says that is firmly planned: "Locked."
But one car he wants to build isn't 'locked'. That's an ultra-glam coupe. "We're working on something we can put alongside the 8C in our museum, to be proud of as part of the history of Alfa Romeo."
It's been teased to customers and Alfa has already collected deposits for all the build slots. The decision is on 17 April. "If we decide no, I have to give the deposits back. If we decide yes, that means we allocate resources and commit to quality."
The design isn't wholly finished yet. "I don't just want to sell the car, I want to co-conceive it with the customers." He has said before that there will be a choice of powertrains: petrol and electric. That's do-able. The Maserati Grecale is derived from the Alfa Stelvio, and the Grecale has petrol or full-EV options. So the petrol version would be the final combustion car Alfa launches.
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