The Italian automaker has to contend with low interest in the Tonale compact SUV in the United States. In the first three months of this year, it was sold ten times less than the sister Dodge Hornet with the same technology.
Golden times for Alfa Romeo did not and did not occur. In Europe, the compact model Tonale with higher clearance is helping the brand a bit, which will soon be complemented by the even smaller crossover Milano with French technology from the former PSA concern, but on the other side of the Atlantic it does not look like a famous comeback. The aforementioned Alfa Romeo Tonale, which is the cheapest model of the Italian brand to date, only had 728 cars sold in the United States in the first quarter of this year. At the same time, the de facto identical Dodge Hornet with a slightly different appearance registered 7419 notches during the same period.
The reason for the failure of the Italian original is easy. Alfa’s slightly tarnished reputation from past years is certainly behind it. But the main reason for the low numbers seems to be the price.
American Alfa Romeo dealers want a minimum of $43,485 for a plug-in hybrid tonal with all-wheel drive, which translates to about CZK 1,022,500 (here, this specification with a system output of 206 kW costs CZK 1,249,000). The Dodge Hornet starts at $31,400 (about 738,000 crowns).
True, the Dodge in the basic configuration does not have a plug-in hybrid drive, but relies on a turbocharged four-cylinder with a volume of 2.0 liters and an output of 268 (more optimistic American) horses. However, it does not lack a four-wheel drive or a nine-speed automatic transmission. In the case of the Dodge Hornet, you can get a comparable design with a combined drive starting from the R/T line ($41,400 or approximately CZK 973,500), which offers similar equipment as the Alfa. In a direct comparison, therefore, the tonal does not actually lose that many tracks.
But for Americans, a miniature SUV with a price of over 40,000 is obviously simply too expensive by their standards. After all, there is nothing to be surprised about. After all, you can buy the new generation eight-cylinder Ford Mustang in the GT variant for as little as $41,960.
On the other hand, the Tonale isn’t the only Alfa model that isn’t doing well in America. The Italian brand did not catch on overall across the ocean. From January to March, only 2,285 cars of this brand were sold in the United States. The most successful representative is the Stelvio SUV with 917 units, the Giulia sedan has 917 copies.
2024-04-05 06:57:00
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