Autocar March 29, 2023

OVER THE YEARS, our news pages have often reported bold plans from Alfa Romeo about a glut of upcoming model launches intended to put the company on the front foot. One such story appears this week (p4). However, this story is very different because it arrives at a time when Alfa is in a position of relative strength and a brand at last on the up. Sales for Alfa grew last year and funding has been secured through its Stellantis parent for four all-new cars, detailed in our story, that will follow the Tonale into showrooms, along with an exciting new ‘6C’ supercar that has reportedly almost sold out before it has even been revealed. The Tonale, launched last year, is not the most inspiring Alfa Romeo to drive in…

“Set to evolve to cover multiple segments, the new Giulia will not be sold alongside an ICE sibling” The Alfa Romeo Giulia will be reborn as an EV with up to about 1000bhp and a range of 435 miles as the Italian firm pushes towards a solely electric range by 2027. Set to evolve from its conventional saloon shape to cover multiple segments, the new Giulia is expected to arrive around the middle of the decade and will not be sold alongside a combustion sibling. Power will start at close to 345bhp and the hotter Veloce will offer roughly 790bhp, CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato confirmed to Autocar. The hardcore Giulia Quadrifoglio variant will arrive with “around 1000hp” (986bhp) – almost double the 503bhp of today’s twin-turbo petrol V6 car. This most…

ALFA ROMEO’S FIRST electric car will be launched next year as a Jeep Avenger-twinned compact crossover that aims to give the Italian brand a foothold in one of the most fiercely contested emerging segments of the market. Originally tipped to be called the Brennero, the new car will spearhead Alfa’s goal of attracting new buyers to the marque, especially families and females, as it looks to move away from being seen as just a “sporty brand” favoured by middle-aged men. It will be the smallest Alfa launched since the Mito supermini bowed out in 2018, and given that its Avenger sibling starts at £34,000 compared with the Alfa Tonale’s £38,000, it is also likely to be the cheapest. The compact crossover will arrive in June next year. It is expected…

A PORSCHE TAYCAN-rivalling large saloon will be launched in 2027 as Alfa Romeo’s new flagship model alongside an all-electric replacement for the Stelvio SUV. The low-slung E-segment model, which will be signed off by the end of the year, will be a crucial step towards bolstering the brand’s popularity in the US and China, CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato said. It will arrive a year after the new Stelvio’s debut and both are expected to use parent Stellantis’s STLA Large platform. While the SUV – a follow-up to Alfa’s best-selling car in Europe, with 16,009 units sold last year – will major on practicality, the saloon will be focused on comfort and range, Imparato told Autocar. “If you speak about range, you speak about a sedan [saloon],” he said, hinting that it…

Anew generation of the Skoda Superb will go on sale next year with plug-in hybrid powertrains that offer an electric-only range of 62 miles. This exceeds the range of every current plug-in hybrid within the Volkswagen Group and beats premium rivals such as the Volvo V90 Recharge (54 miles). It will position Skoda’s PHEVs alongside the Mercedes-Benz C300e Estate, which is also rated at 62 miles. The 62-mile electric-only range is 27 miles up on that offered by the current Superb iV PHEV, which is powered by a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine mated to an electric motor and a 13kWh battery. The news was confirmed by Skoda CEO Klaus Zellmer at the brand’s annual conference, although he did not reveal specific details of the new powertrain’s set-up. The Skoda Kodiaq,…

CUPRA IS READYING a mix of larger vehicles to target North America as it looks to grow its global presence following a record year of sales. CEO Wayne Griffiths has confirmed that the new cars will ride on the Volkswagen Group’s SSP platform – effectively a fusion of VW’s current MEB and PPE architectures. This means the cars will arrive towards the end of the decade, given that the platform isn’t due until 2028 at the earliest. They will be electrically powered (Cupra’s last combustion car will be the 2024-bound Terramar SUV) because the Spanish firm “will not be looking to go to America with combustion cars”, said Griffiths. Cupra’s North American push remains on course for around 2030, confirmed Griffiths, who added that its entry into the market “will…