- Alfa Romeo is sticking with gasoline-driven models, after saying it would phase them out
- The brand’s new chief says it’s too much of a challenge for dealers to go EV-only
- Stellantis overall is planning an “epic comeback,” including new vehicles in segments it had exited
If you’re in the market for an Alfa Romeo but gasoline’s your thing, we’ve got good news for you. The Italian automaker plans to keep offering internal-combustion engines (ICE) even though it’d previously said its Tonale plug-in hybrid (PHEV) would be the last with any sort of gad propulsion before the Italian marque moved to an all-electric future.
That’s according to a report by Automotive News at the U.S. National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), which recently held its annual dealer meeting during a freak snowstorm in New Orleans.
The story quoted Chris Feuell, head of Alfa Romeo North America, who moved into that role last December after heading up Ram. She said the brand “changed course” over the last month and is trying to capture new business by offering the gas-only Tonale at American dealers for a lease price of US$399 per month or less.
Feuell didn’t mince words about Alfa Romeo’s position on this side of the pond. It has 110 dealers in the U.S., down from a high of 150; and half the inventory on their lots are model-year-2024 vehicles. The brand is offering incentives in the hopes of getting them into consumer hands by the end of the first quarter of 2025.
Alfa Romeo’s sales fell by 19% in 2024 overall in the U.S., marking four consecutive years of sales dropping; and by 38% in the fourth quarter. In Canada, Alfa Romeo sold a total of 887 vehicles in 2024, down 20% from the year before; fourth-quarter sales fell by 29% compared to the fourth quarter of 2024. A large priority, Feuell said, is “improving some of the quality issues that we’ve had in the product.”
At the NADA event, Feuell said, “if we replicate what happened in 2024, we’ll lose a lot of dealers, and we need to rebuild the network rather than deplete it.” Transitioning from “what was a BEV (battery-electric vehicle)-only strategy to one that is multi-energy” is necessary, she said, because it would be “very challenging” for dealers “to survive with a BEV-only portfolio.”
Feuell also asked dealers if Alfa Romeo should import its Junior (previously named the Milano, before Italy said no-you-can’t-call-it-that since it isn’t built in that country) compact SUV into the U.S., a model that comes in both electric-only and mild-hybrid versions.
At the same event, Stellantis – the parent company of Alfa Romeo, along with brands such as Dodge, Ram, and Jeep – said it is planning “the most epic comeback in automotive history,” according to Jeff Kommor, Stellantis’ head of sales in the U.S. The automaker’s sales fell by 15% in 2024, and CEO Carlos Tavares abruptly redesigned last December, well ahead of his planned 2026 departure and apparently due to issues with the board of directors.
Kommor said Stellantis is “exploring powertrain opportunities, getting ourselves back into segments that we had exited, putting our product in competitive positions, improving our quality.” He also plans to rebuild relationships between the company and its dealers, and to spend more money on advertising in local and regional markets. Stellantis held only 8.1% of the U.S. market share in 2024, falling from 9.7% in 2023, and from 11.1% in 2022.
In mid-January, Stellantis confirmed that it will build the next-generation Dodge Durango in Detroit, after it was expected that it would be built in Windsor, Ontario. Credit rating and research firm Moody’s recently said that Stellantis, Volkswagen Group, and Volvo are the European-based automakers “most exposed to new tariffs” threatened by U.S. president Donald Trump on cars coming into the United States from Canada, Mexico, and Europe. Trump has warned of 25% tariffs on goods coming into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico by February 1, 2025. European vehicles are currently subject to a 2.5% tariff into the U.S., but Moody’s estimates that could rise by an additional 10%.
Moody’s said that 40% of Stellantis’ vehicles sold in the U.S. come from Mexico or Canada, and that its profits could fall by “significantly more” than 15% if the tariffs take effect.
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