Alfa Romeo was once proud to boast about its EV plans with the Italian luxury car maker promising to move into an all-electric future by ditching its gasoline-powered models and going all in on electrons for its future performance needs. However, sluggish sales have now created a crisis situation for the brand which has gotten so bad, Alfa Romeo is pumping the brakes on its plans and going in a new direction.
Alfa channeling multi-energy strategy
Alfa’s pivot comes as dealerships are reporting that sales are nearing total collapse after years of sluggish progress and crumbling demand. These dealerships are contending with an aging lineup made up of Giulias and Stelvios that have not been living up to sales projections and the Tonale has so far proven to not be the magic bullet that the brand needed to rapidly reverse the trend, instead, the brand is now opting for what it calls a “multi-energy” strategy. Chris Feuell, the recently appointed head of Alfa Romeo North America, confirmed the pivot, noting that the change was made within the past month. “The biggest thing in our product and technology roadmap is transitioning from what was a BEV-only strategy for Alfa to one that is multi-energy,” Feuell explained.
As the name implies, multi-energy is a pretty straightforward plan with Alfa not only selling EVs but also expanding its presence into other powertrains including hybrids. This shift also scraps Alfa’s prior commitment to be EV only by 2027 with the revamped Giulia and Stelvio being re-engineered to include hybrid and ICE-powered variants with the duo reportedly being built on the STLA platform which also underpins the Dodge Charger.
Alfa acknowledges dealer concerns
After meeting with Alfa Romeo dealers at the NADA Show on January 26, Feuell acknowledged the challenges of maintaining a BEV-only lineup. “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,” he told Auto News. That figure is down from the 150 the brand had when it first returned to the U.S. with some of these dealerships leaving in droves in subsequent years as losses piled up for them.
This exodus of dealerships is having a ripple effect and Alfa reps admit that the remaining 110 would have had a very difficult time surviving on a lineup purely made up of BEVs. The addition of hybrid and even traditional ICE models is expected to help the brand appeal to a broader range of customers but quality problems and other issues on the service side have hampered these efforts forcing the brand to invest into separate programs to try and improve quality and enhance the level of service customers get when they bring their vehicle in for service.
Carl Malek has been an automotive journalist for over 10 years. First starting out as a freelance photographer before making the transition to writing during college, his work has appeared on numerous automotive forums as well as websites such as Autoshopper.com.
Carl is also a big fan of British vehicles with the bulk of his devotion going to the Morgan Motor Company as well as offerings from Lotus, MG, and Caterham. When he is not writing about automobiles, Carl enjoys spending time with his family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, as well as spending time with his adorable pets.