Alfa Romeo Junior The Junior was meant to have been the last ICE-powered Alfa Romeo. Picture: Supplied
Image: Supplied
The Alfisti can breathe a collective sigh of relief… Alfa Romeo is not going electric only, at least not in the foreseeable future.
The Italian marque had planned to go all-electric by 2027, with the new Alfa Junior being its last internal combustion model to launch, but now there has been a change of strategy.
And you can thank the Americans for that.
Speaking of the brand’s future plans, Alfa Romeo’s North American head Chris Feuell told Automotive News: “The biggest thing in our product and technology road map is transitioning from what was a BEV-only strategy for Alfa to one that is multi-energy”.
Why the about-turn?
“We’ve got 110 dealers… in our US network, and it would be very challenging for them to survive with a BEV-only portfolio,” Feuell explained.
Alfa’s outgoing CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato already hinted at the move away from the BEV mandate in October last year, when he told Auto Express that the brand’s new boss Santo Ficili has the option to employ a multi-energy strategy for the next-generation Stelvio and Giulia models, which were originally meant to be electric only.
This is technically possible because the two premium models will use the STLA Large platform, which was designed to accommodate both electric and internal combustion models. The new Dodge Charger, which is underpinned by that same platform, will for instance be offered with an inline six-cylinder petrol engine option.
In a recent interview with L'Argus, Ficili confirmed that while the new Stelvio would launch later this year with an electric powertrain only, the company is currently working on a hybrid version. One can only assume that a similar powertrain mix will apply to the Giulia too.
Speaking of which, the Alfa Romeo boss hinted during the same interview that the Giulia would feature a new type of bodywork, which one can only assume means a crossover-type design, but with a sportier twist than the Stelvio, with which it will continue to share a platform.
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