TURIN – “Until 2026 Alfa Romeo will launch one model per year”. This was stated by the managing director, Jean Philippe Imparato, who also added that “the brand will have a significant future in the context of Stellantis”. Learned also confirmed that the new Tonale SUV will go into production in March 2022 while the launch in Italy is scheduled for June. The new Alfa romeo launches are part of Stellantis’ strategy for the group’s premium brand cluster, which envisages a total of 13 new models in the coming years. In addition to Alfa, the other Italian brand Lancia and the French brand DS are part of this cluster. Three new models are planned for the Lancia between 2024 and 2028, while for the DS – as for the Alfa – 5 new products are planned.
The new Tonale, Imparato specified, will not be presented at the Geneva auto show in 2022, where the brand will not set up any stands. ‘Geneva is not part of my spending plans for 2022’, the manager pointed out.
On the sidelines of the presentation of the programs to the network, which was held in the new structure at the Centro Stile in Turin, the head of Alfa Romeo outlined the prospects of the brand in the economy of the Stellantis Group, starting from the recovery in profitability that Alfa has already achieved in the first quarter of 2021. “We no longer want zigzag strategies; you can’t play with the network and with customers ”.
Philippe Imparato is very clear, the man to whom Carlos Tavares has entrusted the honor and the burden of leading the redemption of a key brand in the group’s “premium cluster”. The first declaration of intent concerns the radical change in the production and distribution system starting from 2023 and the simultaneous application of a precise scale of priorities which for Alfa Romeo will see quality first, profit margins second and (only) third the sales volumes.
Hence a very detailed plan that equally concerns the products, the way of selling them and the transition to electricity which “is not a phenomenon to be governed but an incontrovertible fact”; starting with the first concrete stage that will be the awaited Tonale, the first electrified Alfa Romeo that will be marketed in June next year.
This will be the starting point for the renewal process of the range which includes 5 models over the next 5 years, according to the program which is “closed”, emphasizes Imparato, ie approved and financed. The new range will cover all the most important segments by 2026 “starting from B”, it is specified without further information.
The perspective indicated by the head of Stellantis Carlos Tavares, who plans to consider a time frame of 10 years, will entail the definition of the further 2026-2030 plan at the end of next year, even if some cornerstones are already fixed points. These include the definitive switch to electric in 2027, the year in which the Alfa Romeos with thermal engines will go out of production. Don’t worry, Imparato insists, Alfa Romeo is and remains the essence of Italian sportsmanship and all the models planned and under study will be distinguished by the emotion, which the manager defines as “vibration”, which only true Alphas know. give.
Finally, Alfa Romeo continues to focus on Formula 1 for the global resonance that competition has and for the transfer of technology it allows. “In July 2021 I decided to renew the contract with Sauber – said Imparato – from F1 we take the fundamental things to power products such as data management. It is a fantastic laboratory for artificial intelligence, for example. an export of stellar data and this is an important point to improve the Alfa Romeo driver experience. F1 – concluded the manager – is a worldwide phenomenon and we want to be the global premium brand of Stellantis with presence in Europe, the United States and China. Being present in F1 was an opportunity precisely because of the visibility it offers globally. Not to mention that Formula 1 is part of Alfa Romeo’s DNA and is a school of efficiency “.
.