Alfa Romeo hands specification tweaks to Junior and Tonale
For the moment, Alfa Romeo parent company, Stellantis, hasn't confirmed either model for South Africa.
Alfa Romeo has recently announced significant updates to its entire product range, less than a year after making minor revisions to specific models. Stellantis, the parent company, highlighted that the enhancements will allow for greater personalization while preserving the brand's authentic values. The Junior, which debuted two years ago, has been primarily focused on interior updates and the inclusion of more standard features across all four trim levels: base, Sprint, Ti, and Veloce.
These upgrades encompass improved materials, new color options, revised seat trim, and enhanced alloy wheel designs, up to 20 inches in diameter. Within the Junior, key changes consist of keyless entry, integrated satellite navigation, wireless smartphone charging, parking sensors, and advanced safety features such as Adaptive Cruise Control and Blind Spot Monitoring.
The Ti trim adds carbon fiber decorative inserts, gloss black exterior trim, electric and heated front seats, lumbar support, and massage function for the driver's chair, along with ambient lighting. The Veloce model is distinguished by red brake calipers, black exterior detailing, and the optional Sabelt sport seats. The powertrain configuration remains unchanged for both the Ibrida, available in front-wheel drive producing 100kW/230Nm and Q4 all-wheel drive delivering 107kW/230Nm, and the two electric variants, the Elettrica, featuring a 54-kWh battery pack powering a single electric motor, generating 115kW/260Nm in the base model and 207kW/345Nm in the Veloce.
The local market for the Junior updates remains uncertain, as they have not yet been confirmed for South Africa, given that sales commenced only last year. Currently, the South African lineup only includes the EV options: the Elettrica priced at R819,900 and the Veloce priced at R1,019,900. The Tonale, Milan's entry-level SUV prior to the Junior's introduction, has also undergone minor modifications.
The base model remains unchanged, while the Sprint trim boasts new 18-inch alloy wheels, gloss black exterior detailing, and ambient lighting. The Ti trim introduces a standard red-and-black interior, electric, heated, and ventilated front seats, and a heated steering wheel. Other than new alloy wheels, the Tonale's exterior has remained largely the same across trim levels.
The Veloce now offers 19-inch alloy wheels, Matrix LED headlights, red Brembo brake calipers as standard, black Alcantara seat upholstery, and dual-valve electronic adaptive dampers. The powertrain options for the Tonale mirror those of the Junior, with the 1.6-litre Multijet turbodiesel producing 96kW/320Nm and the 1.5-litre mild-hybrid turbo-petrol delivering 118kW/240Nm.
Both front-wheel drive variants are powered by a six-speed dual-clutch transmission. The plug-in hybrid model combines the Brazilian-made 1.3-litre Firefly turbo-petrol with a 15.5-kWh battery pack driving a single electric motor, generating a combined system output of 198kW/270Nm. With the discontinuation of the Giulia and Stelvio in North America, the conventional 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine is no longer available.
South Africa is awaiting approval for the facelift Tonale, introduced last year alongside the Junior.
Written by urgent.news from The Citizen's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
