Alfa Romeo: "We need to revive the Tonale".

WhileAlfa Romeo records growth of around 20 % over the first quarter of 2025, including 74 % in France, driven by the excellent start-up of its new Junior SUV, one observation is obvious: the Tonale, which is supposed to be the backbone of the range, is in sharp decline. That's the clear message from Alain Descat, Director of Alfa Romeo France, in an interview with Journal Auto : "We need to revive the Tonale."

Since its launch in the spring of 2024, the Junior has boosted Alfa Romeo sales spectacularly. It now represents, according to our figures51 % of registrations in Italy, 68 % in France, 59 % in Germany and 64 % in Spain. According to Alain Descat, the figure even rises to 75 % of sales in France. But this success masks a more worrying reality: the collapse of Tonale sales.

A model in decline

A few days ago, Alfa Romeo announced that production of the Tonale has symbolically passed the 100,000 mark. In France, however, sales of the model have been falling steadily. A major blow for a model that was originally intended to be the heart of the Alfa Romeo range. The figures are crystal-clear: the plant produced just over 5,000 Tonale units in the first quarter of 2025, whereas it produced more than 82,000 over the full year 2024, and then more than 36,000 over the full year 2024. This represents a drop of -44% compared to 2024, and -75 % compared to 2023.

A restyling finally expected at the end of the year?

Faced with this situation, Alain Descat confirmed in the interview that the Tonale will be restyled at the end of 2025, not mid-year, different information than we had at the beginning of 2025. This restyling will be accompanied by an ambitious commercial relaunch.

"The priority is to rebuild the brand and sustain sales beyond Junior alone," explains the CEO, who is also counting on the BtoB channel (sales to professionals), still marginal but set to double rapidly from 11 % to 20 % of sales, and eventually to 30 %.

The Junior, Alfa Romeo's new powerhouse

It has to be said that Junior isn't just attracting new customers: it's bringing back former Alfists, particularly those disappointed by the discontinuation of the MiTo in 2018, and is also winning over premium customers accustomed to brands like Mini. "We're achieving a conquest rate of 70 %," says Alain Descat.

While Alfa Romeo today boasts the best profitability per new vehicle in the Stellantis Group (over €2,000 margin per VN), the equation for 2025 remains clear: transform the Junior into a success while resurrecting the Tonale.

As for the rest of the product plan, Alain Descat confirms our latest information: "At the end of this year, we will present the new generation of the Stelvio, to be marketed in 2026. [...] The new Guilia will be unveiled in 2026, to be marketed a little later.