Everyone dreams of it, but very few people buy it. Alfa Romeo has ten years to become profitable. Otherwise, the Stellantis group will stop the charges.
Posted at 11:45 a.m.
Fourteen brands now make up Stellantis. Carlos Tavares, conductor of the Franco-Italian-American group, does not see the need to delete a single one. Not immediately. Mr. Tavares reveres their stories and believes they all deserve to survive as long as they remain relevant and profitable. This is why he gives them, each of them, 10 years to express themselves and achieve specific objectives. Including Alfa Romeo.
The Italian brand commands respect, arouses envy, but does not sell many vehicles. Just over 60,000 units have found takers worldwide over the past year. Times are tough for Alfa Romeo. The Milanese firm can no longer afford to expect customers to court its Romeo. She loses a lot of money and misses the targets she has set for herself. To set off on the heels of German manufacturers, the “bella macchina” of Milan must come out of its marginality and demonstrate that it deserves to gravitate in the Stellantis galaxy.
We now have nine years to assert our relevance.
Vincent Noirbent, director of Alfa Romeo for North America
After a first year to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the brand, the staff of Alfa Romeo says it is ready to turn the page.
“Our mission is to redefine the brand while preserving the passion found in its DNA,” insists Mr. Noirbent.
Alfa Romeo intends to make better use of the capital of sympathy it enjoys to attract new consumers. But the heritage of this brand more than a century old and its sportiness will not be enough, recognizes Vincent Noirbent. “We must bank on these aspects, of course, but we must also recruit new customers and accelerate our transition towards the electrification of our thrusters. To these elements, we must add the quality and reliability of our products and on this point, our president, Jean-Philippe Imparato, was very clear, it must be equivalent to that of a Lexus. »
The table is set.
Stick to customer expectations
While preserving its fiery temperament and its share of romanticism, Alfa Romeo’s product plan must also be more realistic than when it was administered by the late Sergio Marchionne. The latter was then aiming for a production target of 500,000 units and also had the ambition to start work on the return of the GTV coupé or even the rebirth of a sports 8 C. Two projects that did not fit with the realities of the market. Only the idea of a compact utility survived him.
Presented in the form of a conceptual study at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, the Tonale is embarking on a commercial career this year. Expected in the first quarter of 2023, this utility will have a plug-in hybrid version. This new model draws a generation of cars which, with all due respect to the hard core of Alfists, seeks to relaunch the brand by attacking popular but highly competitive segments. It also allows you to very quickly reconstitute an Alfa Romeo catalog. And at little cost since the Tonale draws on the immense reservoir of components of the group. Thus, the future entry-level model from Alfa Romeo is based on the existing chassis (code name SCC for Small Common Components and Systems Platform) used in particular by the Fiat 500X, Jeep Renegade and Compass.
While waiting for the Tonale, Alfa Romeo is letting the rumor run of an even smaller utility for 2024 and another SUV, the following year, much more massive than the current Stelvio. The latter will be aimed at the Chinese and North American markets. Added to this, of course, is the rebirth of the mythical Spider? Vincent Noirbent smiles and won’t say anything about the brand’s future products except that a first fully electric vehicle will make its debut in 2025.