Alfa Romeo represents part of an Italian mechanical deity, devoted to constructing automobiles at godly standards for mortal drivers. It has been the Alfa without the Omega ever since it began producing cars back in 1910.
The Alfa Romeo is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe, the world’s fourth-largest automaker by sales behind Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai.
The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce PHEV is extraordinarily faithful to the concept car from which it draws its origins, courtesy of the remarkable work done at the new Alfa Romeo HQ located at the historic design centre Centro Stile in Turin.
Shaped for a young, metropolitan and dynamic customer, the Tonale offers a distinctive, sensual and forward-looking design, extolling new stylistic canons destined to remain as points of reference in the development of the Alfa Romeo line-up – five-hole wheel rims, the cluster in the ‘telescopic’ instrument panel, the three-spoke sports steering wheel and the sine-curved 3+3 headlights.
With new Full-Led Adaptive Matrix, developed in conjunction with Marelli, the three modules make up a unique frontline for the car and simultaneously provide daylight, dynamic turn signals and a ‘welcome and goodbye’ feature, activated every time the driver turns the car on or off.
The first of these, the adaptive driving beam, constantly adjusts the dipped headlights according to speed and specific driving conditions; the second a glare-free high beam that automatically detects traffic in front and/or travelling in the opposite direction to avoid glare from other cars; and finally, a third module, automatically activated when turning corners to ensure the best lateral lighting.
Alfa Romeo introduced this new compact SUV at the beginning of 2022, creating a smaller brother for the Stelvio which had been on the market for a few years. The new vehicle shares some core-DNA design cues from its bigger sibling, focussing on customers looking for a compact-sized car. Thus, it became the smallest vehicle in Alfa Romeo’s lineup and marks a more aggressive approach to its electrification program.
Tonale ditches the 1.5-litre turbo-charged four-cylinder engine and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission of the regular Tonale using a 132 kW/270 Nm 1.3-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine to drive its front wheels via a six-speed torque-converter automatic transmission. It also has a 90 kW/250 Nm electric motor to drive its rear wheels. As part of a series-parallel hybrid system, those two power sources can operate independently of each other in tandem, depending on the conditions. When combined, up to 208 kW of power is on tap.
The plug-in system gives a claimed 60.5 km of EV driving range to potentially slash running costs.
Yet another of Alfa’s rebirths, the Tonale was engineered to drive sales in the popular premium small SUV segment.
Available in petrol and plug-in hybrid variants with a pure EV rumoured to be down the track, it’s a niche alternative to the BMW X1 and Audi Q3.
Opting for the plug-in hybrid, the Tonale Veloce will add $20,000 to the overall asking price in comparison to the 1.5-litre mild-hybrid Veloce variant. But you get the optional $4500 ‘Lusso pack’ and a $2500 sunroof as standard equipment. So, discounting those add-ons (whether you want them or not), you’re looking at a $13,000 impost for plug-in hybrid power.
The Lusso pack includes heated and ventilated front seats with an eight-ways adjustment and memory, perforated black leather upholstery, a heated steering wheel, 14-speaker Harman Kardon sound system with 465 watts of power, and heated washer jets.
This comes with other standard equipment such as a 10.25-in. infotainment display, 12.3-in. digital instrument cluster, dual-zone climate control, keyless entry, matrix LED headlights and 19-in. diamond-cut alloy wheels. There’s also adaptive damping, privacy glass, a 360-deg. camera system and a more complete range of safety and driving assistance features.
The paddle-shifters are huge metallic outfits that talk to the sporting intent of the driver.
There’s a sizeable wireless charging pad in front of the gear shifter, a 12V port and USB-A/USB-C power outlets. Along with two regulation cupholders and a relatively small centre console bin, there isn’t a lot of storage
Boot space is limited in comparison to the rest of the car to make way for the rear electric motor and 15.5 kW battery.
Cost? A hefty $78,500. A bit rich? Well, somebody’s buying ‘em! Alfa Romeo is confident it will sell 60,000 examples across all markets in 2023-24.
This is the first time the legendary Italian brand has had a crack in what the industry calls the ‘C SUV’ segment. Alfa has done everything it can to ensure this vehicle is as competitive as it can be. Partnering with Amazon Alexa and the creation of My Alfa Connect are admissions that the automotive world has changed, as have the requirements of the modern buyer.
