Alfa Romeo holds on to the combustion engine and hybrid for longer
That is what Chris Feuell, head of Alfa Romeo North America, told Automotive News. Feuell has been responsible for the Italian brand in North America since December and apparently decided to change course quickly. Alfa Romeo and Stellantis are already in a state of upheaval: initially, a new management structure with numerous changes in top management was decided under the only CEO to date, Carlos Tavares, who then resigned prematurely at the beginning of December. The strict electric course of many Stellantis brands can be traced back to the Portuguese – in the case of Alfa Romeo, the decision to phase out combustion engines in 2027 was made in 2021.
“The biggest thing in our product and technology road map is transitioning from what was a BEV-only strategy for Alfa to one that is multi-energy,” Feuell told Automotive News after the meeting. “We’ve got 110 dealers … in our U.S. network, and it would be very challenging for them to survive with a BEV-only portfolio.”
At that meeting, Feuell is also said to have asked the US dealers whether Alfa should bring the smaller Junior crossover to the US market – but the answer is not known. The Junior was initially presented as the Milano, but then had to be renamed following intervention by the Italian government: There has been a law in Italy since 2003 against ‘Italian-sounding’ products that are not made in Italy – the Junior is built in Poland. The model is available both as a hybrid and purely electric.
The original plan was to only launch purely electric models on the market from 2025 and to phase out the remaining hybrids and plug-in hybrids by 2027. However, in line with the new multi-energy strategy, the range of combustion engines will be expanded again, at least in the US. According to Feuell, a non-electrified petrol version of the Tonale will launch in the States to attract new buyers with a leasing offer of $399 per month or less. Initially, the Tonale was only supposed to be offered with electrified powertrains – at least that’s what was said when the model was unveiled in 2022.
Alfa Romeo is struggling with a sharp decline in sales in the US, which fell by 19 per cent in 2024. This is the fourth year in a row that Alfa Romeo has sold fewer cars in the US. According to the new North America boss, there are still too many 2024 model year vehicles unsold, which still make up half of the US stock. These older vehicles will be sold by the end of the first quarter with ‘incentives’.
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