Alfa Romeo dips a toe into the electrified market

This car is the start of the future for Alfa Romeo. It’s important for the Italian firm because over the next 5 years, more and more Alfas will come with battery power…roughly one per year.

electric motor helping things along in what is described as being a mild hybrid…an MHEV.

Oh and well done to Alfa Romeo. They launched the car to the UK media in North Yorkshire.

simple reason that the car doesn’t rely 100 per cent on conventional power. There’s a battery powered

The Tonale is a front wheel drive SUV with a self-charging battery, although most of the oomph comes from a turbocharged 1.5 litre petrol engine. Everything goes via a 7-speed automatic gearbox. The battery driven electric motor joins the party to help you run silently at town speed, creep away from traffic lights or for some urgency when you need to accelerate. Add both of the outputs together and you end up with a total of 158bhp. This translates to a 0-60 time of 8.8 seconds, top speed 131mph and a reasonable fuel economy figure close to 50mpg.

As you’d expect from Alfa Romeo, it handles really well and the ride is surprisingly cushy. The quicker you travel the better it feels. If you go for the top spec model, you also get adaptive suspension which improves the handing even further despite the car coming with bigger wheels.

Prices start at £39,995 for the TI model….while the higher spec Veloce comes in at £42,495, although if you get a move on a special launch edition model is available for £38,595. Every Tonale is well equipped with sat nav, climate control, powered front seats, front and rear parking sensors, reversing camera, adaptive cruise control, 10.25 infotainment screen, LED matrix headlights, powered tailgate and Alexa voice command. There’s a good quality look and feel to everything. Roomy too. We think it looks rather smart.

A lot of family sized SUVs are aimed at making things as easy-going as possible to keep a family brood content on a long journey, but the Tonale is targetting someone who really does enjoy driving. Okay, a short test drive won’t show the Tonale in a good light because it takes a bit of getting used to, but try to borrow one for longer than just a trundle around the block and you’ll soon discover the car’s hidden depths.

All in all, the Alfa Romeo Tonale is a very welcome addition to the compact SUV marketplace. A full hybrid is about to go on sale. It deserves to succeed and will hopefully go a long way to restoring the company’s reputation in the UK which has so far been a tad patchy.