Mystery new tease could be incoming electric Alfa Romeo Tonale as Italian icon goes green

Alfa Romeo has posted a mysterious new teaser on its Facebook page that’s captioned “a
new era begins” that is thought to preview the secret Alfa Romeo Tonale EV it is hatching for
a 2024 debut.

It was thought that Alfa Romeo might have teased the first pic of its baby SUV that it’s also
readying behind the scenes but look closer and you’ll notice the tail light signature is an
exact match for the current Tonale.

When it arrives next year the Tonale is tipped to be Alfa Romeo’s first-ever EV, if you ignore
the battery-powered version of the ultra-exclusive 33 Stradale supercar.

The switch to an all-electric won’t be easy for Alfa engineers as the current Tonale, that
offers diesel, mild-hybrid and full plug-in hybrid powertrains, is based on an old platform
never designed to package heavy batteries.

Engineers say it is feasible to convert the current Tonale to all-electric but we think Alfa will
start, almost from scratch, and base the zero-emission version on Stellantis’ state-of-the-art
STLA Medium platform that lies beneath the latest 2023 Peugeot e-3008.

If we’re right, it means the electric Tonale will share the Peugeot’s powertrains that will kick
off with a front-drive variant which blends a 73kWh battery with a 157kW/343Nm electric
motor and gets a 525km range.

Stick with two-wheel drive and there’s also a long-range version that gets more power
(170kW) and a big 98kWh battery that allows it to cover up to 700km between charges.

Finally, an all-wheel powertrain could gift the Alfa Tonale up to 240kW and 509Nm, plus a
525km range courtesy of its 73kWh battery. The latter could wear a sporty Veloce trim as we think the 0-100km/h sprint of 6.4 seconds isn’t quick enough for a full-fat Quadrifoglio model, especially in the electric age.

Alfa Romeo being forced to start from scratch (almost) for a Tonale derivative could make
sense if you consider it has already declared that from 2027 it will transition to becoming an
EV brand, dropping both its core Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV for the line-up for electric
versions.

In the first half of 2024 Alfa Romeo is also primed to finally roll out its small all-electric SUV
replacement for the MiTo hatch. Set to be named either the Visconti or Brennero, the baby
Alfa is based on yet another Stellantis platform and has been developed alongside the next
Peugeot e-2008, Jeep Avenger and Fiat 600e offered in Europe.