ALFA ROMEO TONALE : WHEN CONCEPT CARS BECOME SOCIALISED CREATURES
- The Tonale concept represents Alfa Romeo’s first plug-in and premium compact SUV.
- Style elements are a mix of throwbacks from the brand’s past and future designs.
- The new infotainment system allows drivers to “fully connect” with the social communities surrounding them.
If you try to cram together too many things, the result is usually a mishmash. The end product will not be very good. If you combine a compact premium SUV with a plug in hybrid, it may not work. You’d think that adding Alfa Romeo to the mix would be a bad idea. Check out the new Alfa Romeo Tonale Concept from the recent Geneva International Motor Show.
This compact SUV is easy to drive and looks great.
The Showcase Car
Do not get too excited. This is just a display car. This is not a radical, high-tech show car that’s powered by rare earth substrates and stellar gases. The Tonale is more of a showcase vehicle than a showcar, so you might want to get your hopes high. Alfa’s Tonale is a stylish SUV that can be had.
Tonale’s overall design and style could be praised. It’s true that I could, but I hesitate to. It’s up to you whether a car is “good” looking or not. It is true that Italians are able to make even the most mundane of vehicles, like SUVs and crossovers, look as if they were the latest thing on the road. This is a very well-made car in my opinion. Surface tension is reminiscent of Alfa styling moves from the past. The Brera headlights and big dial wheels are all examples.
The Alfa Romeo Tonale concept has four seats and is decorated with Alcantara, Alcantara Leather, and translucent backlit panels. Photo: Alfa Romeo.
At Your Fingertips
The interior is where the Tonale becomes more concrete. Alfa’s interior design is more important than the style. Dashboards are becoming more and more like those of modern cars. The screens are perfect, if they’re not even required. The Rolls Royces, Bentleys, and other luxury cars of the world are not the only ones with fancy touchscreens or multi-function displays. If they’re everywhere, how will dashboards in the future look and function?
Alfa believes it can answer this question.
The Tonale has a 12.3″ full-digital instrument cluster, and a 10.25″ touchscreen in the head unit. The main instrument cluster measures speed, revs and other vehicle information, while the large screen in the middle handles all infotainment. This is pretty standard. Alfa focuses on the software and UI to create a fluid and seamless interface. Multitasking is made easier, intuitive and more natural. Alfa claims that the driver can have the latest functionality and features at their fingertips.
The Tonale is where Alfa Romeo goes above and beyond, allowing you to connect to the Alfa Romeo Lifestyle & Social Communities through features such as “Alfista”, “Paddock” and more.
The Alfa Romeo Tonale concept gets its name from Tonale Pass which is not far away from Stelvio Pass. Photo: Alfa Romeo.
Alfa Romeo: The World of Alfa Romeo
Alfista offers an “immersive experience” of Alfa Romeo Lifestyle. This makes me shiver. It doesn’t help me to feel better when Alfa tries explaining itself. Alfista connects you to select Alfa Romeo Clubs and Community Events. You get live updates and news about events, such as gatherings, drives, and other activities. Ugh. It’s not completely bad, but I can’t understand why your car should do the same thing as your phone.
Paddock, the “in-vehicle market and garage”, allows you to view and purchase all of the latest Alfa Romeo interior and exterior performance upgrades and equipment in real time. You can order all of these directly via the touchscreen. This makes me wonder why this is only possible with your car, and not on your phone.
, on the other hand, isinteresting. They are trying to link their software with their hardware. What should be doing is offering Alfista or Paddock as software downloads for customers’ phones. I’ll bet Alfa does that in a couple of years. Alfista, and Paddock were good ideas delivered in the wrong way.
Alfa Romeo Tonale concept sketch.
Power & Performance: Slim Details But Promising
Alfa doesn’t provide many technical details about the drivetrain other than the obvious. This is a plug-in hybrid. The battery can be charged by connecting to the grid. You can use the car on either electricity or gasoline. Alfa says they have tweaked their software to allow you to switch from electric power , or gasoline while driving the Tonale. The Tonale will do the math for you. You can now go down to by using.
It still feels and drives like an Alfa Romeo, they say. It’s still a blast, but now it is much more eco-friendly.
The company released a statement that read: “The Tonale marks Alfa Romeo’s debut in the premium compact utility segment, and it does so while maintaining the same characteristics which have always been associated with each Alfa Romeo product.” The goal is to provide the best driving experience in the segment, and to implement electrification with perfect Alfa Romeo styling.
This strange mix of things that shouldn’t even work sounds good to me.