Alfa Romeo Milano/Manufacturer
When Jean-Felipe Amperato, the man sent to save Alfa Romeo, talks about "performance", he doesn't imagine fast traffic light exits or track-burning laps. He talks about performance in a completely different aspect - economic, those on which the future of the company he heads depends on in order to continue to exist.
Amparato talks to us at the launch event of one of the most important models of this manufacturer in recent years - the Milan. It is a small crossover, the so-called B SUV that will be placed under the Tonale and uses the parent company Stellentis platform. The same one that is also used by the Opel Mokka, Peugeot 2008, Fiat 600, Citroen DS3 and Jeep Avenger, and like all of them offers gasoline and pure electric drive. And Alfa Romeo is well aware of this difficult image starting point and promises that once we drive it, we will realize that the platform is the same but the performance is completely different.
And just before we tell you about the technical details, what it does and how, we need to explain for a moment the role of this model, at least in the eyes of the manufacturer and the concern. Alfa Romeo, for all its illustrious past and the luxurious cars embedded in it, is a manufacturer that can no longer continue to live on the gasoline fumes of nostalgia. In 2023, Alfa produced only about 68 thousand cars. Even Porsche sold almost 5 times. Lexus already over 800,000 cars a year and the Germans over 2 million each. Alfa must sell many more cars and its goal is to grow to about 300 thousand cars a year already within 4-5 years.
"Without doubling our electric vehicles by 2030, we are dead," says Amparatto openly and without hiding the difficult truth that manufacturers operating in Europe are facing. There, a fine is imposed that may reach thousands and tens of thousands of euros for each car under a formula that calculates the weight of the car and its pollutant emissions. Therefore, Alfa announced in 2021 its 10-year plan, a decade in which it will go from 0 electric cars to 0 pollutant emissions by 2030. This includes the introduction of a new model every year since, so it was with the Tonale in 2022, with the Stradale in 2023, the year with the Milan, a new Stelvio in 2025 (which will use the 3008 platform and offer up to 700 km of electric range) followed by the Berlina and the new Giulia.
And the first goal of these models at the immediate and current stage is not to be an homage to history of the manufacturer - but simply to give it financial stability. "The Alfa Romeo that I joined," he says, "had two problems - it was not economical and its cars were not good." And again, when he says "not good" he does not mean the dynamic qualities of The Stelvio and the Giulia - but mainly for their ability to provide the "performance" I talked about at the beginning of the article.
And this is exactly his perception regarding my question as to whether Alfa Romeo does not currently lack a "halo car" that can be presented in showrooms and attract audiences who may end up buying a Tonale or Stelvio, but will dream about it. Amparato repeats his regular mantra - he is not opposed to such halo cars, but they must only come from a place of stable ground and a profitable company. "We need to maintain ourselves with cars that sell, if in the future we can put our financial balances to build a new generation of GTV we will do it, but we are committed to our strict plan first."
And this program includes, what to do, this story of cars that people actually buy and not just fantasize about buying, because in the end they need real money there in Stellantis. And that is the role of Milan.
So as mentioned, it is based on the small model platform of Stellentis and will be the entry model into the world of this manufacturer. It is slightly longer than its half-twin brothers at 4.17 meters, 1.78 meters wide and 1.5 meters high. The wheelbase is not specifically stated, but expect the 2.56 meters we know from his others for the platform - a lot of room in the back seat does not give the impression of sitting in it for a short time. We did not find exceptional quality of materials there either - this is a vehicle that leaves the main impression in its exterior appearance.
The kind of vehicle that the images on the screen do it an injustice to, because in reality it has excellent proportions, with a nose that will offer an opaque front and on it the inscription Alfa Romeo in the classic font in the electric version and one in which the snake logo is embedded in the grill itself in the gasoline versions. But what catches the eye most of all is his "coda tronca" - which can be translated as "cut tail" as they call his rear part. Hence its length in relation to the other models as well as a slight growth of the trunk to 400 liters (380 in the Avenger for comparison).
Its cabin is handsome, though less spectacular than the exterior show. The basic architecture under the design is that of its brother in Stellantis - two 10.25 inch screens, for the multimedia system and the dashboard which is here under round canopies - a hallmark of the Alfa Romeo driver's environment. The vehicle will be launched at least in Europe with an application that allows you to remotely control the charging, opening and closing of the vehicle, location and more. Its operating system is joined by a voice assistant that wakes up with the announcement "Hi Alpha" and uses GPT chat and voice recognition to perform tasks without taking your hands off the wheel and eyes off the road. In the top versions it will be possible to get sporty and supportive sabelt seats.
Its drive will be with gasoline or electric engines, with front or double wheel drive. We have already met all these engines, that is, this 95 octane sipper will have a volume of 1.2 liters supercharged with 136 hp connected to a 6-speed double-clutch gearbox. The electric version will come with a power of 156 hp in the "Special" or 240 hp In "Voluche". This version is fed by a 54 kWh battery that with the weak engine will bring it to about 410 km of range. This is a good power, although far from the double power offered by its competitors such as the Volvo EX30 and Smart 01 in the Brabus version. Pace the fast charging in the DC positions will be 100 kW)
and still, this does not mean that Alfa has forgotten what they stand for and in the 240 hp version it receives a 25 mm lowering, hardened shock absorbers, thickened stabilizer bars, an Alcon braking system with a 380 mm disc "m, 4-piston caliper and rear limited slip differential.
The Milan launch was attended by none other than Carlos Tavares, CEO of the Stelantis Group, who came straight from Turin where he met with representatives of the Italian government. This is part of a whole campaign he is engaged in these days and goes beyond his role as the one who steers the ship with 14 brands, but one that touches the economic nerves and the politics of the automobile industry
in Europe. It is facing difficult challenges in the form of increasingly stringent requirements regarding air pollution standards and not least - the fear is of a Chinese invasion. "We love cars and our brands even when they fail," he says, revealing later that a manufacturer A Chinese major has previously tried to buy one of the group's French brands without disclosing who it is. This is not the first time the Chinese have expressed interest in this type of acquisition, the last time was a decade ago when Dongfeng tried to make a similar move against Peugeot-Citroen then under PSA.
" Of course, I refused the offer," Tavares clarifies and points out those who made this move. "Those who invite Chinese to Italy are on the same path as those who sold Volvo to Geely and MG to SAIC - this is not going to happen at Alfa and Stellentis."
These things are attempts to conjure up rumors and "fake news" as he defined it about their intention to break up Fiat and leave Italy, "We build factories for cars, gearboxes, batteries and more" he said.
This does not mean that there are no contacts between the concern and Chinese manufacturers, on the contrary, in October 2023 Stelantis purchased 21% of Lipomotor for 1.6 billion euros, and according to its announcement it will begin to produce models based on the Chinese manufacturer's supply at the end of 2024 in a joint venture and will most certainly do so on European soil, possibly even in Fiat factories. According to unconfirmed first reports the first move will be the construction of the small electric TO3 that will arrive in assembly kits from China, at the Fiat plant in Poland.
By the way, Amparato himself estimated in a conversation with us that he foresees the collapse of Chinese manufacturers, possibly even in the coming months. "Despite their deep pockets, they lose between 5,000 and 10,000 euros per vehicle, this cannot continue," he said.
Back in Milan, Alfa Romeo has high hopes for the model and its ability to make up 40% of the manufacturer's sales and on the way to expand and rejuvenate its customer base. "Until a few years ago, our customer was a man, 55 years old and rich," Emperator told us, "The Tonale brought us women and families, the Milan will bring us an even wider mix of customers." And if the Tonale was aimed at Giulia "graduates", in the case of the Milan, the candidates are the ones who bought the Mito at the time.
One of the ways they intend to do this is an attractive price. In Europe, the price of the Milan starts at 30,000 euros, about 6,500 euros more expensive than the Jeep Avenger, and in its electric version it is expected to cost 39,000 euros (charging station included in the price), 4,200 euros more than the electric Avenger sold in Israel at the price of starting from 190 thousand shekels. That is, if these price differences are maintained and subject to the fact that the European price is affected by incentives, we are looking at a car that will start at about NIS 210,000, expensive compared to electric cars from Chinese brands, a little more expensive than the electric Smart 1, but similar to the hybrid Lexus LBX and significantly cheaper compared to the electric offerings of The prestige of the Germans. Gasoline will be cheaper.