Alfa Romeo Sprint Reviews

The Junior Ibrida might be the most relevant Alfa Romeo ever. All-new, it is set to deliver a surprisingly affordable, highly efficient and sophisticated mild-hybrid small SUV. That it also happens to be right on-brand with strong performance, engaging handling and striking Italian design inside and out makes this premium Euro crossover a standout. The Junior Ibrida deserves to be a big hit.

Australia’s premium small SUV hybrid class is about to experience a shake-up with the arrival of the Alfa Romeo Junior.

Alfa Romeo confirms a new-generation Giulia and Stelvio on shared Stellantis platform.

Claims of battery breakthroughs have lately been reserved for Chinese electric car brands, but this time the news has come from automotive mega-group Stellantis.

Australia’s new car market rose very slightly in volume in 2024 compared to 2023 - but it wasn’t good news across the board.

Just weeks after stepping down as the head of European-American automotive conglomerate Stellantis, Carlos Tavares is standing by the decisions that forced the embattled former CEO into resignation.

In the face of ever-tightening vehicle emission performance standards for car and light commercial vehicles applied by the EU’s European Commission and growing inventory, particularly in North America, the world’s fourth-largest carmaker Stellantis has decided to reduce production of selected petrol and diesel models across its brand portfolio.

Alfa Romeo is known for sleek sports cars, compact hatchbacks and sporty sedans, so why is its first electric car a small SUV?

Alfa Romeo’s smallest model since the MiTo hatchback is also one of its most crucial.To make sure it stacks up, Alfa’s engineering team benchmarked the Junior against some interesting competitors during development.The sub-compact SUV will be offered in hybrid and electric guise in Europe in the coming months and the electric - or Elettrica - version has been locked in for an Australian debut at some point in 2025.The flagship of the range is the sporty Junior Elettrica Veloce, which we recently drove at the international launch in Italy.Speaking with Australian journalists at the international first drive, Alfa Romeo Head of Products Daniel Guzzafame said there were a range of different models that Alfa used to benchmark the Junior, and those models varied depending on the Junior’s powertrain and grade.“So for some performance is mainly the comfort. The Volvo is the right competitor so we compared that to the EX30 on that. But Volvo driving dynamics is not the right competitor. It would be too easy to say we are better than Volvo, okay. So I have the feeling of driving the XC40, it's like being on a truck. I love the car (XC40) but it's just not the intent,” he said.“So we took other references for that, so low-speed handling and dynamics it's the Mini, and high speed in electric there was not really much so we tested the BMW i4 and the Ioniq 5 N for the handling.“But again, that's because the reality is that there is not really something that can compare. And we were wanting to do something that was different from anything that was on the market. So it was not easy to get something really one-to-one compare.”While the Volvo and Mini were to be expected, the BMW i4 was a surprise.All Elettrica grades come with a 54kWh battery and the base Elettrica delivers 115kW/260Nm, while the Veloce pumps out 207kW/345Nm. The driving range is 410km and 334km respectively.The engineers focussed on injecting Alfa Romeo DNA into the Junior, ensuring it has Alfa’s light and direct steering, and handling prowess thanks to a sporty suspension setup, a mechanical self-locking differential as well as front and rear anti roll bars and sportier brakes.The Junior has a lot of weight on its sculpted shoulders as it is tasked with driving sales in Europe and in many global markets. It will not, however, be offered in the United States as it is seen as too small and niche for that market.In Australia it will face competition from rivals like the Lexus LBX, as well as a pair of models - the Peugeot E-2008 and incoming Jeep Avenger - that both share the same eCMP Stellantis platform as the Junior.When asked if the Junior had the potential to be Alfa’s best-selling model globally, Guzzafame said: “In terms of global sales, we'll see,” he said. “It will depend on the weight of Europe versus the rest of the world. If I look at today's line-up, next year, probably it will be, but it's also because we have a range to be renovated and in different countries that will need to start so next year probably the weight of Europe will be higher because of this model. And so if it's not going to be the most sold, it will be for sure at par with the others.”He added that other upcoming new Alfa Romeo models have the potential to be global best sellers, but that the Junior would top the brand’s tally in Europe given the continent’s preference for small, efficient cars.Other Alfa models on the horizon include the next-gen Stelvio next year, the next-gen Giulia in 2026 and then a yet-to-be revealed model that is expected to be larger than the Stelvio.

Alfa Romeo is in the middle of launching one of its most important models in decades, but there are a bunch of new models on the horizon that should get the Alfisti excited.