Alfa Romeo is the newest manufacturer to backtrack on its goal of becoming an EV-only carmaker, a goal that the Italian brand had previously set out to realize by 2027, reported Automotive News.
Citing Alfa Romeo North America head Chris Feuell, a move to force dealers to sell only electric vehicles in only a couple of years’ time could be too restrictive. “We’ve 110 dealers in our United States network, and it could be very difficult for them to survive with a BEV-only portfolio,” Feuell said to the publication on the 2025 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) show.
In line with the Alfa Romeo North America chief, the Italian brand sustained a drop in sales of 38% within the fourth quarter of last yr and 19% overall in 2024, arriving at a loss for the fourth consecutive yr, and the brand’s North American dealer network has shrunk to the aforementioned 110 outlets, down from 150 outlets previously.
The Italian brand has foregone the EV-only approach for the North American market in favour of a ‘multi-energy’ strategy that features petrol, plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles in its portfolio. Former Alfa Romeo CEO, Jean-Philippe Imparato was also cited as saying recently that the brand could offer a more diverse powertrain offering, including petrol engines for the long run if there was customer demand.
Along with losses sustained by Alfa Romeo, the brand also faces the difficulty of slow-moving inventory in North America, as evaluation by CarEdge found that the Giulia is the slowest-selling automobile in america as of September, when it had a list supply of 617 days. Its SUV sibling, the Stelvio was the third-slowest selling, with 454 days of inventory.
A key priority for the brand is to get sales “back on target and improving a few of the quality issues that we’ve had within the product so that they can shift away from a really high mixture of warranty repairs back into customer-paying maintenance and light-weight repair work,” Feuell said.
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This Article First Appeared At paultan.org
