Alfa Romeo confirms it’s moving away from an all-electric vehicle lineup as collapsing sales and other problems force the Italian automaker to pivot in an attempt to reach out to more customers.
Alfa Romeo confirmed it’s pivoting away from an all-EV lineup as shifting market demand and internal problems force it to change course.
When electrification was first gaining traction, Alfa Romeo was one of many automakers who were eager to get in on the EV bandwagon promising that they would be moving to an all-electric vehicle lineup with the Tonale CUV being the last gasoline-powered model before the Italian brand switched to an all-electric future.
However, the market has shifted since and in the case of Alfa Romeo, the decrease in demand for EVs also shined a spotlight on some of its lingering problems both in quality and in overall sales. These factors forced Alfar to make a hard choice and move away from an aggressive EV strategy and instead embrace a new plan that brings ICE and hybrid powertrains into the mix in an attempt to try and jumpstart sales.
Collapsing sales played a key role
The Tonale was supposed to help prop up sales but it has so far failed in that regard.
Even before the brand announced its pivot in vehicle strategy, Alfa Romeo was already contending with serious problems. For instance, when the brand announced it was re-entering the U.S. market, it had 150 dealerships that were ready to sell models to consumers. However, four years of consistent sales declines and other issues caused some of these dealerships to bail out with the brand now only having 110 showrooms remaining in the U.S. a noticeable drop from several years ago.
The dealerships that are remaining are angry and frustrated with Alfa with many of them reporting sales that are nearing a proverbial collapse and putting a strain on their finances. Part of this decline were self-inflicted wounds Alfa made in terms of vehicle planning with much of the brand’s current inventory being made up of aging Giulia and Stelvio models with the smaller Tonale just now entrenching itself in the market. The Giulia and Stelvio have gone a long time without a major revamp and many buyers are more than happy to pass them up for German rivals that offer newer technology, styling, and performance options for them to benefit from. Alfa Romeo North America chief Chris Feuell acknowledged these issues during the NADA Show, saying that forcing the remaining 110 dealers to sell only electric cars in just a couple of years from now would be too restrictive: “We’ve got 110 dealers … in our US network, and it would be very challenging for them to survive with a BEV-only portfolio.
To help them out and to lure in more buyers, Alfa Romeo is scrapping its 2027 target for full electrification and is instead adopting a new “multi-energy strategy” with the EVs being complimented by hybrid, PHEV, and even traditional ICE-powered models to provide a bigger dragnet for dealerships to gain and retain new customers.
More Alfa Romeo Stories
- Alfa Romeo Teases The Future of Stelvio SUV
- Alfa Romeo May Bring Junior SUV to the U.S. as Brand Attempts to Jump Start Electrification Strategy
- 2025 Alfa Romeo Tonale Gets $10K Discount, Non-Hybrid Version Comes To The U.S.
What’s next?
The Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale supercar and the Junior are part of a broader product push with the Stelvio also slated to get a revamp.
Alfa Romeo is one of the brands on Stellantis’s radar that’s being closely watched by Stellantis reps to see if it can reverse its fortunes. One way that it’s attempting to do that is by having dealerships dump their remaining 2024 inventory with the Italian brand having the same problem as all of its teammates when it comes to bloated inventory levels with the Tonale getting a $399 monthly payment deal as part of these efforts.
Dealerships were also asked if the Junior model should be sold in the U.S. with the CUV being sold in other markets either as a pure EV or as a mild-hybrid that’s powered by a 1.2-liter turbo engine. The Junior would be a crucial piece of the multi-energy strategy due to how flexible it is when it comes to powertrains but with the Tonale already proving to be a slow seller, we won’t be shocked if some dealerships say no so they can focus on more immediate problems like clearing their inventory of glued to the floor 2024 models.
Glued to the floor 2024s? Try 2023s and 2022s… There were a good number of those when we thought about looking at Alfas this summer.
Great, now they’ll sell 25 cars instead of only 5.