When the Giulietta compact hatchback goes out of production later this year, Alfa Romeo will be left with only two products in its lineup: the Giulia and Stelvio.
Nonetheless, the family will be expanded next year with the Tonale plug-in hybrid and, if the recent information from Autocar is correct, a small electric SUV from 2022. Not much is known about the first zero-emission Alfa Romeo, but it might benefit from FCA’s merger with PSA.
The latter already makes several EVs, including the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa-e and Peugeot e-208 superminis, DS 3 Crossback, Peugeot e-2008 and upcoming Mokka-e, all of which are based on the CMP (EMP1) platform.
Therefore, the most likely scenario places the electric Alfa on the same architecture, although the exact specifics of the powertrain are unknown. PSA’s products have a single electric motor that makes 134 HP, paired to a 50 kWh battery. In order to stay one step ahead, the Alfa Romeo SUV is understood to be developed with an accent on enhanced performance.
Alfa’s electric SUV might feature artificial sounds, in an attempt to provide more emotion to the person sitting in the driver’s seat. “The idea isn’t to make fake sounds to recreate an internal combustion engine, because we won’t have fake things inside Alfas”, a spokesperson told the British publication. “The idea is to create a specific sound to get emotion from both the driver and car. An advantage of electric car is silence – if the customer wants to drive that way. But also the possibility of an aggressive mode.”
The exciting sports cars announced by the brand two years ago, such as the GTV and 8C, and then shelved at the end of 2019, might eventually return to the product plan when sales get back on track. That may take a while, though; in Europe, deliveries dropped by over 50 percent last year.