Alfa Romeo committed to Australia

Alfa Romeo is here to stay in Australia.

That’s the firm message from the historic Italian brand, despite only selling 181 vehicles so far this year in Australia – down 23 per cent on last year’s low tally – in stark contrast to sales spikes of around 60 per cent for luxury rivals like Audi (7495) and Lexus (5419).

“My response would be that we’re extremely committed to the brand,” said Stellantis Australia’s product manager for medium and large vehicles, Rick Crichton, when asked if Alfa Romeo could survive in Australia with such low sales volumes.

Crichton also pointed out that the Alfa Romeo Tonale small SUV, which is finally now rolling into showrooms, will improve the Italian brand’s fortunes Down Under.

“When Fiat-Chrysler merged [with Groupe PSA] and became Stellantis there were brand heads put in place, so [Alfa Romeo CEO] Jean-Philippe Imparato’s goal is to make sure that this brand continues to grow and thrive and succeed in all markets, including ours,” added Crichton.

With only two models on offer for the past several years – the Stelvio and Giulia mid-size SUV and sedan – and the delayed arrival of its second SUV in the Tonale, Alfa sales have suffered locally and globally.

BMW, Audi and Lexus offer countless models including numerous SUVs, while Alfa Romeo has been accused of focusing too heavily on sports cars and sporty vehicles, and being too slow to develop volume-sellers including SUVs.

“I don’t know if slow is the right word. I think we’ve been timely introducing our first SUV which was was Stelvio, which was a number of years ago now. We’ve had some great success with that car,” stated the product planner.

“Tonale is now our second SUV,” he said, adding that it’s expected to be the brand’s best-selling model in short order.

Alfa Romeo’s new global boss, ex-PSA Groupe Frenchman Jean-Philippe Imparato, has been tasked with revitalising the brand and improving the quality of its vehicles, and he’s already talked up several new SUVs coming in the next few years.

As well as the new Tonale, which is the brand’s first ever hybrid and small SUV, and only its third new model in recent years, the brand has also repositioned its two other vehicles.

Spruiking the facelifted 2023 Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Giulia, which Crichton hopes will attract and conquest more buyers thanks to improved equipment, tech levels and a fresh new look, he said there was plenty of excitement within the brand.

“It’s like a game of chess and we’re putting our strategies in place to help the brand grow and succeed,” he said.

“And then all these emerging technologies – it’s really cool to be a part of,” he noted, referencing the brand’s switch to becoming an all-EV brand from 2027.

In March 2023, Stellantis Australia appointed a new managing director, former GM Holden sales director Michael Filazzola.

Alfa Romeo’s parent company Stellantis owns several global car-makers including Chrysler, Jeep, RAM, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Peugeot, Citroën, Opel and others, and was the world’s fifth biggest automotive company in 2022 with 6.34 million vehicle sales.

Toyota was number one with 10.48 million sales, following by the Volkswagen Group (8.3m), Hyundai Motor Group (6.8m) and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance (6.39m).

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