Alexandre
Jean-Philippe Imparato, CEO ofAlfa Romeorecently revealed in an interview with Automotive News that the Italian brand would close 2023 with positive operating profitability of several hundred million euros. This marks a significant turning point for Alfa Romeo, especially after a difficult period marked by the pandemic and the various challenges of today's automotive market.
While the Stellantis Group, of which Alfa Romeo is a part, does not disclose the financial performance of individual brands (except Maserati), Imparato stressed the importance of key decisions in the recovery of Alfa Romeo's accounts, an initiative that began in the second half of 2021.
Soaring sales thanks to Tonale
According to the CEO, worldwide sales sales for the year are estimated at between 70,000 and 80,000 units, marking an increase of around 30 % over the years 2021 and 2022. Growth is mainly attributed to the Tonale model, which accounts for almost 60 % of the brand's total sales. According to Imparato, the Tonale has guaranteed "the level of profitability that Alfa needs". In France, the increase was 26 %, with 83 % of sales for Tonale.
Transition to electric
Alfa Romeo's future is and will be electric. Imparato confirmed plans for next year with the launch of the Milanothe last Alfa Romeo model to be equipped with an internal combustion engine. From 2025, all new models will be exclusively electric. This will culminate in 2027 with the launch of a flagship electric model. "You'll be impressed, believe me," assures Imparato. Perhaps a new Alfetta?
Price increase strategy
The CEO also discussed the strategies put in place to turn around the brand's finances since January 2021. These include, a price increase of around 5,000 euros, reducing exposure to less profitable sales channels, and simplified configurations of models. "The first time I went to Cassino, I discovered around 4,000 options, which I reduced to 1,500," said Imparato. These measures, combined with improved quality and higher residual values, have led Alfa Romeo to increased profitability.
The configurator does indeed offer a limited choice of wheels and colors, including yellow calipers... as well as a significant price increase. It's difficult to compare old prices with 2024 because of the different equipment, engines and finishes. But there is indeed a €5,000 to €10,000 difference. For example, a Giulia Veloce 280 bhp had a recommended retail price of €54,190, compared with €62,400 today. If you want to have some fun comparing, here are the 2017 Giulia and Stelvio prices.
Imparato concludes by stressing the importance of quality and premium positioning, even if this means lower sales volumes. For Alfa Romeo, the emphasis is on profitability rather than massive sales figures, a strategy that will bear fruit, provided that future alfists are all ready to go electric.
From 2025, says Imparato, all new models will be exclusively electric. This means the end of Alfa Romeo. No Alfistas will follow, and we'll be forced to look elsewhere, or on the second-hand market.
Today's news: Hertz has announced that it is selling 20,000 electric vehicles and replacing them with internal combustion engine cars. This just goes to show how reluctant car rental customers are about electric cars. Last summer I took a road trip to the Dolomites, leaving from Venice airport. I would have looked good with an electric car on the mountain roads, and I didn't see many chargers.
Apart from France and Germany, the network of charging stations in other southern and eastern European countries is too limited. The automakers are aware of this, and there's not much they can do about it. That's why Carlos Tavares has said that if they want Italy to produce more cars in the future, they have to work on the charging network.
So Alfa Romeo is proposing to sell exclusively electric cars in its first market, Italy, knowing that the network of charging stations is woefully inadequate. It's a gag.
The lack of sales of the Fiat 500e in southern European countries isn't enough, they're going to continue with future Lancia and Alfa Romeo electric cars, and Fiat models to come, in addition to the 500e and 600e, not forgetting the Abarth 500e.
Customers will do something much simpler: buy combustion or hybrid cars, and turn away from brands that only offer electric cars.
Just like Maserati, which offers a Folgore range... 2024/2025 are going to be interesting years.
Mr. Imparato has been on the wrong track for quite some time now, and I don't understand why no one has been able to pass on to him the grievances of Alfa enthusiasts: Alfa Romeo WITHOUT combustion engines is finished. If you wanted to make the brand disappear, you wouldn't do it any other way. It's easy to move figures around in a balance sheet or a budget, but reality quickly catches up with you: on the Swiss market, AR lags miserably at the bottom of the sales rankings: prices are prohibitive and the models are no longer adapted, no longer evolved. The majority of Tonale on the road are rental hpvs. Major manufacturers like Toyota are rethinking the electric vehicle approach, and are wondering whether they've gone down the wrong road...... I'm not looking forward to what's to come, because as an alfist it's very disappointing.
Imparato is just an employee of Stellantis who does whatever Tavares decides.
Stellantis looks more and more like a way of dissolving Italian brands and turning them into Peugeots with just a different design.
What will Alfa Romeo be offering? Power for the future electric Giulia and Stelvio, which will be soulless cars.
An Alfa Romeo Junior that will simply be a rebadged 208. Ditto for the forthcoming Lancia Ypsilon, electric power already seen at Peugeot, in the Jeep Avenger and the Fiat 600e, plus a PureTech engine. And we want an Italian car enthusiast to sign up to this program?
Personally, I think that electric vehicles are inevitable, and that manufacturers who miss the turning point will be in trouble in a few years' time.
Electricity is growing fast worldwide, and alfists will accept it because they have no choice.
I think so too, all the more so as we'll soon be seeing the arrival of high-performance batteries in terms of weight and autonomy! The Alfists make me laugh a bit, they criticize a lot but they haven't saved the brand!
In recent weeks, a large number of automakers have been seeking to reposition themselves in the booming automotive market. The choice of energy carrier is being called into question, and the effects on employment are beginning to unfold. Technology transfer and the search for raw materials seem to be calling yesterday's solutions into question. The extent of the transition has not really been taken into account, and markets and industry are adapting on a day-to-day basis. This disarray will continue over the next decade, slowing the growth of the automotive sector as customers are left in limbo.
It's also easy to see that both Italy and the UK had zero growth in Q4, that everyone is expecting a recession in Germany and Sweden in 2024, that Japan isn't doing any better, and so on. Growth in the automotive sector in these conditions seems to me difficult outside the luxury brands.
@Stanislas
Feel free to give 80% in taxes to the state...
In the meantime, bmw motorsport owners were asked if they minded M going electric.
Well 85 % said no, looks and driving pleasure come first.
And hertz only resells its electric vehicles because it loses too much money on resale, and that's crucial for rental companies, because Musk plays too much with prices and hertz can't make any forecasts, there's too much yo-yoing on electric prices, and not just at tesla either.
Have no doubt that Alfisti, or at least those who can afford it, will be buying electrics!
@ philippe ,you're wrong about electrics, look at porsche's sales figures with the taycan , look at the sales figures it sells more than 911s.
On certain bmw models (3 series), electrics also sell better.
The electric transition will happen for alfists and others alike. There will be no choice, and manufacturers who miss the turning point will be in trouble in a few years' time. Worldwide, sales of electric cars are exploding.