Alfa Romeo’s bold future vision will see petrol and diesel engines scrapped by 2027, with the brand promising to be fully electric in just five years.
The move will make the Italian brand one of the first mainstream players to say arrivederci to petrol and diesel entirely, with the brand’s global boss declaring “I can’t be half-pregnant”.
That mean no hybrids, no plug-in hybrids, and no ICE at all. Instead, the brand will embark on an all-EV mission that will kick off in 2025, and sweep across the entire brand by 2027.
Asked whether the EV push means every model will be all-electric by 2027, Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato replied “Yes, because I can’t be half-pregnant.”
“If I try to make two different things at the same time, I will make mistakes,” he says. “Because I want to focus on the maximum efficiency and effectiveness of the development that we are doing today.
“At one point of time, you have to decide. We have decided that Alfa Romeo will be 100 per cent electric in 2027.”
With the decision made – and the new Tonale SUV set to be one of the last, if not the very last, combustion-engined vehicle from the Italian brand – the only question that remains is exactly what sort of vehicle an Alfa Romeo EV will be.
And Mr Imparato has a clear vision there, too.
“One, you will have a high level of performance,” he says. “Second, you will have a very high level of quality. Third, you will not spend one hour charging your car at the charging station and you will have the right level of features.
“(Alfa Romeo) is sportiness. Italians know it as sportiness since 1910. I will not give up. So when you will have the EVs, I can tell you that you will have a very powerful, impressive sensation.”
In exciting news, Alfa Romeo will also buck the all-SUV trend by delivering electric sedans and hatches, too, with Mr Imparato including an all-electric Giulia in his EV model line-up.
“We are not (just) an SUV maker,” he says. “I can have an SUV that is very high performing. But I will not give up on Giulia.”
What you might not have, however, is sound. This is the one unanswered question hanging over Alfa Romeo’s EV assault.
“The question is, do you want me to make or to build a fake sound? It’s a question mark,” Mr Imparato says.
“Today the question of electric, non-electric and performance is behind us. Because we can provide a very high level of performance (as an EV).
“But the only remaining thing I have is sound or no sound? If it is to make a Star Wars sound, something that is coming from the galaxy, I will say ‘no, never’.”
Mr Imparato went on to say that he hasn’t ruled out a natural soundtrack, caused via vibrations, or even reimagining the classic Alfa Romeo soundtracks of old.
Keyword: Giulia to lead Alfa Romeo's EV assault: Forget hybrids and PHEVs, Italian brand vows to go fully electric by 2027