2 minute read
Interview: Damien Dally
As the new Tonale nears its launch, Ted Welford finds out how else luxury car brand Alfa Romeo is aiming to make itself more appealing.
Damien Dally
Managing director of Alfa Romeo and Jeep UK
The UK boss of Alfa Romeo has said that the brand is likely to launch a ‘buy online’ service next year as the brand looks to appeal to a younger audience.
The Italian firm is gearing up to launch its new Tonale – a new smaller SUV that will sit in a hugely lucrative segment and will open the brand up to more people. In doing so, it’s looking to make the brand ‘more accessible’, and introduce a ‘buy online’ function to its website.
Speaking to Car Dealer, Damien Dally, managing director of Alfa Romeo and Jeep UK, said: ‘We don’t do “buy online” at the moment, but we will move soon as that is the way. I think the key thing for me is to make the brand accessible, and some will want to buy it online. One of our strengths is getting people in the car. Some products, regardless of segment, when you feel and touch them they overdeliver, and I reckon we do that. ‘Selling online will be a part of the portfolio in the future – not immediately, but probably next year, but we will still be involved with our dealer network.’ With the Tonale, Alfa Romeo returns to a volume segment, with one in four new cars sold in the C-SUV segment where this model sits. ‘We haven’t really been in a volume segment since Giulietta, which at the time was big when we launched it. The fact we’re going into this large segment is a huge deal for us.’ Dally says he hopes to sell 3,000 Tonales a year in the UK, which it hasn’t done since the Giulietta, and that it appeals to a different type of customer. ‘The Giulia and Stelvio predominantly appeal to an older, more affluent and male audience. But with the Tonale, we want to lower the age of our buyers and attract more females to the brand, which worked well with Giulietta previously.’ Although the Giulia and Stelvio’s sales have remained sedate in recent years, they’re stable, with Dally saying those two cars will remain on sale well until 2023. ‘The Giulia and Stelvio segments are important to us, and we’re not going to move away from that but instead grow the appeal. We want to make the brand more sustainable, and we’re not saying these two segments don’t matter.’ Orders for the BMW X1-rivalling Tonale opened on July 10, with the model exclusively sold with hybrid powertrains. First deliveries are expected in September, with a plugin hybrid version following at the start of 2023.
