7:30 am, March 24, 2025
It’s long been said that you can’t be considered a true petrolhead until you’ve owned an Alfa Romeo.
The Italian brand is famed for its passion, soul and driving pleasure but where does that fit in at a time when the future appears to be all-electric?
Some have worried that going green could spell the end of Alfa’s individuality, turning it into just another identikit EV manufacturer in an already crowded field.
However, Stellantis’s UK boss has now moved to reassure enthusiasts that ‘driving dynamism’ remains at the core of everything the brand does.
Speaking at Car Dealer Live, Eurig Druce boldly declared that ‘Alfa Romeo goes back to what motoring should be all about’ as he pledged that the outfit would never ‘drive average’.
He added that products like the current Alfa Romeo Junior are cars for people to ‘enjoy on a Sunday afternoon’ in order to get ’emotional reaction’.
‘Alfa Romeo goes back to what motoring should be all about,’ Druce told host James Batchelor in Gaydon. ‘Alfa Romeo will never be a brand that drives average.
‘It’s danger of what we’re seeing in the market today. If we’re going to make the full transition to electric – and maybe it’s a different discussion in terms of all of the other influences we need to make that happen – but we have to offer driving dynamism.
‘We have to offer people who are true motoring enthusiasts the kind of cars that they would want to be able to drive and enjoy driving when taking it out on a Sunday afternoon.
‘We never want to see a scenario where the motor industry starts to produce a load of magnolia products. It has to be something that gives an emotional reaction.
‘It has to be something that can be enjoyed.’
‘Electric vehicle doesn’t mean boring vehicle’
One of the big criticisms of EVs is that they are ‘boring’, which is regularly put forward as a reason for slow take-up.
Druce however, disagrees. He says that with the right engineering, EVs can be just as exciting as their ICE counterparts and again pointed to the Junior as a perfect example.
Appearing onstage along with Renault boss Adam Wood, he added: ‘Electric vehicle doesn’t mean boring vehicle – that’s crucial.
‘Anybody can create an electric car that goes from 0 to 60 in three to four seconds but I live in north west Wales and there’s a road – the A5 – which takes you right across North Wales.
‘The Alfa Romeo Junior is the kind of vehicle you want to go down that road in.
‘In electric form, of course it’s got acceleration but it’s also got drivability, its got road holding, it rewards the way that you drive it.
‘That kind of product, and bringing in more of those sorts of exciting products in Alfa Romeo and across all of our brands is something that for sure, we have scope to do.’
You can read all the headlines from Car Dealer Live here.
