Alexandre
The latest press release fromAlfa Romeo is full of praise: +57 % registrations in the first half of 2023 compared with 2022. Without giving further details on the figures, we'll have to take your word for it. The reality is that the first half of 2023 is not as bright as it seems !
Record-breaking global results for @Alfa_Romeo for 1st half 2023! Aiming for premium sector leadership is on track: registrations +57% worldwide + recognition for quality. Great news thanks to passion + humility of our teams. We keep pushing for 2023 results that are even better! pic.twitter.com/040wIMYKvX
- Jean-Philippe Imparato (@JPImparato) July 25, 2023
We also have the registration figures for the first half of 2022, to which we need only add the 57 % to obtain the figures for the first half of 2023. From this, we can also deduce registrations for the second quarter of 2023. Here they are.
There's no arguing with the brand's official statement: the first half of 2023 is better than 2022 and will certainly be better than 2021 and 2020. But what could be worse than the last three bad years?
If you look further back, you'll get a better idea of the situation. It will probably do as well as 2020, and perhaps better than 2019. But we're still a long way from the years that followed the launch of the Giulia and Stelvio.
What's more, after a solid first quarter 2023 thanks to Italy and the USA, the second quarter of 2023 is even on the decline because it's barely better than the second quarter of 2022.
We're still a long way from our target of 200,000 sales a year by 2027, but we can't blame the brand whoseegistrations are mainly carried out by Tonale.
Already discounts on the Tonale to boost Alfa Romeo sales?
We might as well make it clear, without the Tonale, the Italian brand would be in dire straits today.
However, to boost sales in 2023, Alfa Romeo seems to want to act on price, as the brand is already offering discounts, at least in France, on this small SUV. This is what we have seen with the two long-term leasing proposals we have obtained.
While a 280 hp Tonale Veloce costing €58,000 was being offered at a leasing rate of €730/month in December 2022, it is now possible to negotiate this same Tonale Veloce for €200 less per month!
On the offer on the left, December 2022, Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce 58218 € for 48 months (can be returned from 36 months), 40,000 km, 729.99 € / month.
On the offer on the right, July 2023, Alfa Romeo Tonale Veloce €58700 for 36 months, 45,000 km, €519/month.
That's no small discount! Let's see if it's enough to boost sales...
It's normal the product is not adapted to the range.
Nobody would mind having a Tonale under Abarth, which isn't a bad car, but Alfa's isn't convincing enough, especially when it's shared with Dodge, which has a bigger engine.
Alfa must continue to remake itself with products like the Giulia, the Stelvio and other models above these 2, and limit the number of units (100,000), with GT and SuperCar models. It's time to stop always looking downwards, to produce volumes that are not fanciful and, above all, to have an after-sales service that is a thousand times better, not to say the benchmark in the sport.
Quality, authenticity and rarity can justify prices more in line with the brand.
It's like the 4C, which was an extraordinary car but under the wrong brand.
Lancis and Alfa Romeo and Maserati have to have a similar range, because one deals with sports and the other with luxury, with Maserati on top, sharing platforms. Otherwise, anything announced in mass production will be a... fiasco, and we'd expect to see product developments every year, not every 5 years and 10 years at the door.
Nothing has changed and no one is fooled.
The Tonale has just been launched in the USA, and we'll be keeping an eye on its sales compared with the Dodge Hornet, which is far less expensive...
I'm afraid the game is already decided.
Alfiste, I've been saying it for a long time, THERE IS NO SHOWROOM AT ALFA!!!
I'm not talking about my 147, MITO and 159.
But since the revival ( 2017) I've had a Giulia 180 hp diesel Lusso, a Stelvio 210 hp diesel Sport Edition and for the last 10 months a Giulia 210 hp Q4 diesel Estrema.
When I go to Alfa, there are Fiat, Jeep, Kia, Opel , Suzuki. STOP, STOP! My wife has a mini, when we go to mini, show room separate with BMW, at Mercedes there are only Mercedes, Audi the same. Audi broke away from VW a long time ago.
Exactly.
You're right, sir, Alfa Romeo needs showrooms dedicated solely to the brand.
Alfa older than BMW 1910 vs. 1916.
There's still a long way to go, but the path is clear!
I think the Tonale is an Alfa for customers, otherwise it wouldn't account for such a high proportion of the brand's sales. On the one hand, there's the fact that while it had a respectable record in press tests, it was often mixed (steering not consistent enough on the road, average engine enjoyment, lack of options). But above all, I'm afraid that this slowdown reflects something more general that worried me several years ago, namely the economic crisis. If there are a large number of solvent customers, Alfa can try to win them over with these points, specific showrooms and a benchmark after-sales service, otherwise it's a lost cause...
You're partly right, but for the Tonale the engines are too close to Abarth and would have deserved the 2.l of the Giulia.
Unfortunately, Dodge is going to ravage it.
Alfa is dead, it's time to stop with the SUV. We want a Giulietta 2 and then a Mito 2, as well as an updated Giulia. Today, it doesn't stand a chance against the competition, which offers hybridization and phev. So why take Alfa if Mercedes and BMW are doing better? But parents have chosen the Tucson because the Stelvio doesn't exist as a hybrid. Design isn't enough. Don't forget that young people who start out with a Mito/Giulietta will move on to a Giulia/Stelvio as they get older. Without that first step, it's hard to build customer loyalty early on. In short, I'm thinking of switching to Tesla to replace my Giulietta.
That's one way of looking at it. I don't know if the Mito or Giulietta will bring more.
Mercedes and BMW are no better with their C-Class and 3-Series, nor with their SUVs.
Personally, I'd be delighted to see a new Giulietta at around 35,000 euros. The A-Class clearly lacks on-board space, the 3-Series elegance. To replace the MiTo, I fear that this product will be replaced by the small crossover next year, which should start at around 40,000 euros electrically, given the prices of the 600... As for the choice between a Tucson and a Stelvio, it's a bit like night and day, the latter being easily 10,000 euros more expensive! But above all, I wanted to respond to the fact that "design isn't enough". The Tonale's roadholding is excellent, among the best in its class, and all it needs is an engine and transmission to match its MHEV credentials.
The Stelvio is clearly lacking in nothing and has nothing to envy the others, just like the Grecale, and I don't think their prices are excessive - quite the opposite, in fact, when you look at the competition.
Its shortcoming is a 4-cylinder engine that's not lively enough, like the Giulia and 4C. A smaller engine, like the 1.4 when it came out, simply with 150hp to 200hp that could simply run on ethanol, and upgrading the 2.0 250hp to 350hp in 4WD would have been welcome, and having Ferrari prepare the 4-cylinder engine so that it goes up in the revs while passing the standards would have been perfect. And above all, make a 580hp GTA and GTAm version (that's still possible with a return to the workshop) and a 660hp GTAC version just for the track (to close the chapter with Sauber) at 500 units in all 3 cases.
These are the only things the Giulia and Stelvio can be criticized for, and everything else is faultless.
It's hard to sell a Tonale that doesn't really stand out from the competition. I'm an Alfist, though, and I'm currently driving a Giulietta that I'm thinking of replacing, but with what?
I love the Giulia but I'm looking for a petrol car from 2020. Used cars are hard to find at a reasonable price, and new cars only offer 280hp... I'm not interested in the Stelvio because it's too big.
As for the Tonale, in its class I much prefer the Cupra Formentor. The Tonale is visually appealing from certain angles, but clearly less handsome than the Stelvio. What's more, its styling is really its only selling point. Inside, we have no choice but black, and although I think the most beautiful interior is the one with alcantara seats, we can't choose it with the Harmann Kardon sound system, which imposes leather on us... Outside, no metallic red is offered. My Giulietta has a magnificent three-coat rosso competizione. The red of the Tonale looks quite bland next to it.
Engine-wise, there's nothing too fancy. In terms of options, everything offered on the Tonale is available from the competition.
One last point, Alfa is now part of Stellantis. The new 3008 is on its way, and I'm pretty sure it'll be much better than the Tonale in almost every respect. What's going to justify its premium positioning against the general-purpose 3008?
Well said and yes, the Tonale is not in keeping with the brand. Too low end a product that we would expect from Abarth.
I agree with Dan, fed up with seeing opels or ducato in front of the alfa ..... window at the tonale, I want to but how to find the engine torque and the pleasure of driving like on my giulietta 2,0 150cv ??? With a 1.5 or a super 1.3 l booster at 180 hp. Imparato, who was Peugeot's boss, made a 3008 with 300 hp, and at Alfa he's coming out with 280 hp with a 1.3 l. ......They've understood so much that they're going to put a 3-cylinder puretoc in the next car.
Sadly, yes.
Aren't dealerships coming to an end? Increasingly, direct sales via the Internet are going to be the order of the day, aren't they? (I'm not in favor of that, but we've already done away with cashiers in supermarkets and bank branches...).
For Alfa, we don't know who the public is any more... (and neither do the sales people, because none of the products are hugely successful).
The Tonale seems to be aimed at families who want a car with an Italian design that is not at all consistent with the Giulia/Stelvio and even less so with the recent Giulietta/Mito past.
What attracted me to Alfa was its "affordable" sportiness and Italian design. Today, however, that's all over... -and this is probably a good thing- because "sporty" engines are penalized by high deductibles, and the brand now offers almost exclusively SUVs (which doesn't fit in with my idea of a "beautiful Italian car").
I'm still dubious about electrification (because "sporty" and "electric" seem antinomic to me) and electric cars with battery packs in the floor will always look more like SUVs.
I totally agree
Yet Opel and Peugeot in the group have just released two compact cars that are anything but SUVs, not to mention Tesla and its Model 3, with decent weight and very sound handling. Alfa would have to offer 200 entry-level horsepower and a 60kWh battery, and take care with fast recharging, because asking Alfa customers to reduce their speed to 110 on freeways is going to be complicated...
No, the end of dealerships and online sales is an illusion. For a smartphone, that's fine, but for a car (especially at these prices) or clothes, you have to look at them and try them on. Cost killers thought they had the idea of the century, while Chinese automakers are buying up dealerships from the competition, and Tesla is preparing to open dealerships in every "average" Chinese city. Above all, we mustn't neglect the customer experience, and fortunately at Lancia we're working on it. We need to clean up our points of sale, but we mustn't abandon them.
I completely agree, how can you spend 50k mini on an Alfa and go to Fiat/Suzuki etc to have it serviced? Alfa's problem has always been the network... and they want to be premium.
Then the Tonale, sorry there's something wrong with the design. Having had a 147/GT/916 and now a 159 sw TI TBI (which still attracts a lot of attention), I have a hard time with the Tonale's design.
The Giulia Stelvio duo is still going strong.
I'm thinking, after my 159, which is reliable, high-performance and pretty, what can I get? A Giulia petrol with "sport" equipment is mini 30k... with terminals. Ditto Stelvio... and the network?
It's sad ..but you feel compelled to go elsewhere.
It's great to see all these specialists expressing their views on the policy to be adopted by automakers. They should all apply to work for Alfa...or Peugeot!
For my part I have just a small idea the Tonale is ugly, very ugly, heavy, it looks absolutely nothing like an Alfa and moreover there are no more customers for Alfa which sells its cars only by selling them all those who give advice would do better to buy if they love the brand so much!! ☺️
Nonsense 🤣😂
Wouldn't the drop in leasing rates be due to the increase in residual value, which would be higher than expected on the first used models to arrive?
That's a good argument indeed! But after 6 months on the market for the PHEV, it's a bit early in my opinion.
Hello,
The €519 offer for the tonale seems low to me....Is this the work of a particular dealer or do you think it can be found in most Alfa dealerships....??
Hello,
The figures are not good... There were 19,266 cars sold in the second quarter according to my data.
You can criticize the Tonale for not being a "real" Alfa, but the world has changed since the 70s...
It's designed to appeal to as many people as possible, and it seems to me that the result is not bad considering the platform used and the period in which it was released (PSA-FCA merger). New models will benefit from more appropriate platforms.
Still, in the end Alfa makes money, and we should be satisfied with that, since it's the best guarantee of new models.
If Alfa can also produce exceptional models like the Stradale 33, that's perfect.