Alfa Romeo wants to return to making sports cars but EVs come first

Alfa Romeo may still soon return with a new sports car. However, that depends on how quickly the marque can establish itself as a mainstream electric vehicle seller and if it can turn around its sales record.

The news follows the recent launch of the Tonale, Alfa’s first hybrid SUV. A sub-Tonale will follow in 2024, which is expected to be the brand’s first fully electric vehicle.

Read more: Alfa Romeo takes first step into the future with new Tonale.

What follows will be a five-year onslaught of cars bearing the Alfa badge. A new model will be launched every year until the end of 2026. All will be electric.

That plan certainly distances itself from Alfa’s former glory of flashy sports cars derived from the race track. The Tonale’s launch last week can be considered day one in Alfa’s new era of car manufacturing.

Fortunately, all might not be lost concerning Alfa’s history. In fact, the thought of seeing Alfa Romeo lose its awe and prestige weighs heavily on the mind of CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato.

“If I bring a good level of business, I’m sure [Stellantis boss] Carlos Tavares and I will one day speak about some dream cars,” Imparato told UK’s Autocar. 

“I have to support the storytelling of Alfa Romeo in the future.”

Imparato hinted there may be one or two unique projects in the pipeline. He reportedly mentioned the Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto and T33 Stradale as future references.

But for now, Alfa’s lead priority is about today. That starts with making sure it doesn’t fall behind in the world of electrification. 

“For the moment, I’m oriented on value creation, on pricing power, on residual value. But, at the same time, we are working on potential one-off and few-off [projects],” Imparato said.

“I cannot present anything concrete for now, but I can tell you that I do not forget our past and our passion. I am just focusing on the business, and the elephant in the room is electrification. 

“We have to have the right priorities on the table but we are working in parallel on these projects.”

Reading between the lines, any future Alfa sports car will likely have a full electric powertrain, or a hybrid one at least.

Alfa’s last true sports car was the 4C, which went out of production in 2020.