The next new Alfa Romeo to carry the Quadrifoglio badge will be the forthcoming Stelvio all-electric SUV, due to be revealed next summer – after the Italian brand failed to make a business case for a high-performance version of the smaller Tonale.
Alfa boss Jean-Philippe Imparato revealed to Auto Express back in 2022 that strong customer demand for a high-performance Tonale might persuade him to consider such a model. But speaking this week at the launch of the all-new Alfa Romeo Milano baby SUV, Imparato revealed that the idea has been scrapped.
“I think that idea was to find a solution where I could put 400bhp inside the Tonale,” Imparato said. “I didn’t find this solution, at a reasonable cost and at a reasonable level of CO2 emissions. Because if you want to register a car above 200g/km in France today, you have to pay huge amounts of money. Who is going to buy a Quadrifoglio there? A madman. I can be mad, but how many guys are like that?
“So the Tonale will not be a Quadrifoglio, or have 400bhp. The next Quadrifoglio, it is more than fair to say, will be the [next] Stelvio.”
The Stelvio is the next step in Alfa’s plan to launch a new model every year until 2027. It will make its debut in summer 2025, introducing the STLA Large platform, and will be made in Italy. Imparato revealed that the current power output of the performance flagship Quadrfioglio version is 941bhp. “That’s the figure for the moment,” he said. “If we can reach 1,000PS [986bhp) then we’ll do it, but I’m not absolutely sure it’s the first priority of the company, or the customers.
“My top priority is to be a complete substitutional experience to combustion power. That means you drive, you stop, you charge, have a coffee, do a pee, bye-bye. If you have to wait two hours to charge the car, it kills everything. If you have to drive at 130kph, with Fiat Pandas passing you or campervans going faster than you, it kills everything.”
The new Alfa Romeo Stelvio is expected to make use of STLA Large’s 800V capacity to bring ultra-fast charging of up to 270kW – and to feature a battery that, in more modest versions at least, can take the car more than 700km (435 miles) between charges.
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