Alfa Romeo’s latest reinvention will be the biggest in the Italian brand’s 113 year history. After more than a century powered by the internal combustion engine by the end of the decade the brand will be all-electric.
But there’s reason for Alfa Romeo enthusiasts to be optimistic, with current CEO, Frenchman Jean-Phillippe Imparato, laying out a relatively simple plan for the brand rather than the more elaborate five-year visions the brand previously attempted – and failed to deliver.
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Instead, under Imparato Alfa Romeo will lean on the modular electric vehicle architectures being developed by parent company Stellantis to make a rapid transition to an all-EV range by 2030. While a major departure for a brand famous for its petrol engines, Imparato said it is the only way forward.
“If you want to build the future of Alfa Romeo over the next 20 years, 30 years, you cannot avoid the movement to electrification – it does not exist,” he told selected media, including Torquecafe.
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Since 2021, when Stellantis took control of Alfa Romeo as part of the merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and PSA Group (Peugeot and Citroen), the brand has returned to profitability, which Imparato said will be key to financing this new product plan.
The plan itself is relatively simple – launch one new model each year until at least 2027. That will begin in 2024 with a new ‘B-SUV’, a compact new model that will sit beneath the recently-launched Tonale, which will be a hybrid – and the last Alfa Romeo with a petrol engine. In 2025 the first all-electric model will come, it’s likely to be a replacement for the Giulia sedan, with electric replacement for the Stelvio SUV following in ‘26. In 2027 the brand will launch an ‘E-segment’ model, likely a large SUV. This will be critical to Imparato’s plans to make Alfa Romeo a true premium brand again, creating a rival for the likes of the BMW iX, Audi Q8 e-tron and Mercedes-Benz EQS SUV.
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Not that Imparato is worried about competing directly with his German rivals, bristingly at the suggestion that he will need a broader range than just five or six models to be successful and ruling out trying to spin-off multiple body styles from the same EV platform (known in the industry as ‘top hats’).
“I don’t need to catch-up, I don’t care about catching up,” he said. “I will have five cars [in the showroom]. I don’t want to have 25 ‘top hats’ – the salesmen are unable to sell 25 ‘top hats’ – I will just focus on one launch per year. But [in] three regions, that means Europe, North America and Asia, everything I can open in the Middle East, Africa and Australia I will do. That’s it.”
