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Italian premium brand Alfa Romeo has reversed its decision to sell only electric vehicles, the latest marque to walk back earlier ambitions.
Electric Cars
Alfa Romeo has ditched its goal of being an electric-only car brand just a few years before its stated deadline, as more big names turn away from an EV-only future.
It joins Volvo, Lotus, Audi, Porsche, and Mercedes-Benz in backtracking on the strong electric car targets as global demand wavers and a surge of affordable, Chinese-made battery electric vehicles (BEVs) enter the market.
In 2023, then and current global head of product for Alfa Romeo, Daniel Guzzafame said: “From 2025 onward, we will be (electric) only on the core models … and from 2027 (we will have) a 100 per cent electric line-up.”
But now, speaking to Automotive News, newly-appointed head of Alfa Romeo North America Chris Feuell, has stated “it would be very challenging for them [the 110-strong US dealer network] to survive with a BEV-only portfolio”.
Instead, Alfa Romeo will adopt a “muti-energy” approach, having just finalised the new strategy recently with a mix of petrol, hybrid and electric powertrains for the foreseeable future.
“The biggest thing in our product and technology roadmap is transitioning from what was a BEV-only strategy for Alfa to one that us multi-energy,” Feuell said.
The Alfa Romeo Junior, nee Milano, was meant to be the last internal combustion-engined model from the Italian brand, with the new-generation Stelvio and Giulia set to go electric soon and share the same platform with the new Dodge Charger.
Of note, the STLA Platform is positioned as an electric-first architecture, with the electric Charger already in market in the US, with a petrol-powered version to be revealed at a later date.
This dovetails with overseas reports indicating the new Giulia and Stelvio will now be offered with hybrid and petrol options, as well as electric, with the former also transitioning from a sedan to a more in-vogue crossover body style.
Alfa Romeo's other model, the Tonale, is already offered with either a 48-volt mild-hybrid-assisted 1.5-litre petrol engine, or a plug-in hybrid powertrain.
With powertrain ambitions shifting, Feuell said the next step Alfa Romeo’s the plan – at least in the US – is “getting the sales back on track and improving some of the quality issues that we’ve had in the product”.
In Australia, Alfa Romeo sold just 561 units last year, a decline of 21.6 per cent over 2023’s sales result.
This places it towards the bottom of the top-selling brands ladder, easily outsold by Audi (15,333), BMW (26,341) and Mercedes-Benz (19,989), as well as Jaguar (743) and Volvo (8898), and relative newcomers like Genesis (1400) and Lexus (13,642).
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Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
