Electric serpent
Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Speciale
Alfa Romeo, two words that epitomise the passion at the heart of Italian motoring. A passion for go-their-way design and at the pulse-quickening epicentre, a passione for engines. It all started 115 years ago.
Their petrol engines are things of beauty, a decades old excuse to lift the bonnet and just stare at the polished piece of artwork that proudly displayed, centre stage, those two signature words in their alluring cursive script. It felt like every engine had been hand signed. There was so much to get your heart pumping and you haven’t even turned the key yet.
They kept producing a dizzying number of eye-catching cars, from the delicate 1966 Spider of Graduate Dustin Hoffman to the cheap boxy Sud that was a sublime drive even while it turned to rust in real time.
The halo models kept coming too, like the 4C and the 8C, poster dreams made real.
Reliability and your GTV6 may not have gone hand in hand but it looked great. Every owner who saw Roger in Octopussy tear off in a GTV had a good ‘mine-could-never-do-that’ laugh.
As someone who obviously likes cars I will never forget the moment I pressed the ‘race’ button in a Stelvio Quadrifoglio. How much luck would the four-leaf clover badge bring me? With stability control switched off the whole thing became an instant sweaty palmed test of your driving mettle. Just like your first kiss, you’ll never forget it.
To hammer home this emotional connection Alfa Romeo were judged to be the ‘most loved brand’ in a poll of 200,000 UK drivers by Autotrader in 2024. Owners didn’t just buy the cars - they were smitten. It’s an affair with a wheel at each corner and mostly without the perils of a divorce. Foibles were forgiven as owners were swept up in a tidal wave of love-is-blind affection.
Alfa did their own survey last year revealing that 55 per cent of British drivers believe that the car someone drives reflects their personality and, more potently, 11 per cent of drivers admit that their date’s car has been a factor in them not going to a second meeting. It’s not you, honest, it’s your wheels.
Against this back-story it’s a huge deal when the omnipotent brand owner, Stellantis, decide to take this badge and deploy it in a new area and in a new way. They have produced a car for the B-segment, or subcompact SUV, a slice of the pie that represents about 25 per cent of UK sales. It’s not only a hyper competitive area but they are doing it with an electric car, the Junior Elettrica. Alessandro Volta, Italian inventor of the battery will be smiling down.
It’s a high-risk, high-stakes strategy. Stellantis folk must hope the evocative badge will spread heritage fairy dust that stirs interest among the Alfa tribe while also attracting new buyers.
So will the Junior make you rejoice and embrace the future or have Alfa thrown away everything the Alfista hold dear in a cynical bid for market share?
I had one for a week to find out.
Before turning a wheel you can’t help notice that the design trumpets the history and the famous logo does a lot of the heavy lifting.
How many times does the maker’s badge appear on your car? At a guess, I would say on the bonnet and boot, on the steering wheel and one per wheel, so seven in all, quite enough to remind you of your purchase. Add the logo on the key fob and we’re up to eight.
On my Junior I counted 20, yes 20, examples of the Milanse Biscione, the heraldic symbol of the Visconti family, who controlled Milan in the 13th century. The famous blue serpent has a child in its mouth and it’s a point of scholarly debate if the infant is being eaten or is emerging. During the Renaissance a fawning interpretation to curry favour with the powerful was ‘an infant bursting from the maw of a coiling serpent marked the noble lineage of your clan’.
On the Alfa logo the graphic nature of this image has been toned down since the war with the small pink body and flailing arms being turned into a uniform silver head and outstretched arms by 2015.
Today the serpent is in your face just about everywhere you look in the Junior ensuring you won’t ever forget this is an Alfa.
The marketing jumps into the deep end of all things Italian as well, referencing iconic points like the Scudetto v-shield grill and the Cannocchiale instrument cluster. It’s heady stuff that reminds you of the decades of greatest hits. Alas, the number plate is now centrally placed under a shortened Scudetto erasing an iconic design quirk in a win for common sense over flair. There are also two type of Scudetto insert, the ‘Progresso’ and the ‘Leggenda’ and where there is choice there is division. Owners on online forums seem to want the one they did not get on their Junior. Dealers are being asked to get swapping. They are also scrabbling as excited UK customers pick up their new cars only to find the paper quick start guide is in French. An early Alfa test of how deep is your love.
I was given the Elettrica Speciale that has 156bhp with a WLTP of 250 miles and is in the middle of six versions that span £28,400 to £42,305. My press car, with options that included things like a hands-free tailgate was £39,095.
Front on I think it looks great, different from the herd, as is the styling near the Coda Tronca, or chopped tail.
Inside things are not so bella. Materials around too many touch points are frankly so-so with plenty of scratchy plastics in evidence. The glove box, (that good old terminology from the 1930s) is fist sized. The rear seats are kid size and with no cup holders or door bins back there, along with one USB port, I predict much wailing and gnashing of teeth. You can brighten things up with an optional £1,200 sunroof.
So, onto the main event, how does it drive?
Well, dynamically it’s a perfectly average ho-hum B segment EV. You have three different modes that change the BHP on offer but underpinning it all is the EMP, or as someone in a white coat would say, the efficient modular platform. This is used by a raft of products from the Stellantis stable like Jeep, Peugeot, Fiat, Citroen and Vauxhall.
Other than what you can take from the dressing up box, EMP means deep down differential is a challenge. On the plus side, there were glimpses of what you would expect from an Alfa if loaded down with historical baggage like me. The steering is direct courtesy of a short steering rack, and when you have dialled in the whole 154bhp in ‘Dynamic’ mode you can have some EV darting about fun around the 30mph zone. The quoted range was faithfully delivered, which was nicely refreshing. Also, well worth having from the optional Technology pack are the state-of-the-art LED matrix lights. These work in tandem with the forward radar, cleverly turning off light segments so as not to dazzle oncoming drivers.
Unfortunately, I remain unconvinced that it is the “unmistakable driving experience” that Jules Tilstone, Managing Director of Alfa Romeo UK, talks about.
I looked hard for it but the negatives you’ll remember are brake pedal travel that was too long before anything happens and the wind noise at motorway speeds. The ride moved between cosseting – good at low speeds, to wallowing – bad at higher speeds. Disappointingly for a car this price, battery regeneration mode had no nuance and was a binary off or on. Oddly, the rear view mirror is so low down the windscreen I had to bend my head to see the centre section of road ahead. With a 0 to 62mph of nine seconds and a top speed of just over 90mph it was never going to scream track day credentials. That’s fine, but any combustible fun mostly eluded me.
If you are looking to get closer to hair-raising then there is the spicier Veloce version. That has more power and reworked suspension. It promises dynamic thrills but costs more than £42,000. Perhaps that’s the car Jules was talking about.
The question then is do 20 Biscione make the Junior Ellectrica a ‘real’ Alfa Romeo?
Like a cat in the summer sun, let me remain firmly on the fence. I would hazard that the answer is partly based on your background. If you have owned or driven petrol Alfas and caught the Alfista bug, you may baulk at this sterile EV and its try-too-hard attempt to drink from the well of history. Of course, love may intervene so you buy one anyway to have alongside your ICE Alfa.
If you are new to the brand and just looking for a B segment EV with decent range and a little Italian styling flair to separate it from the crowd, then this could be for you. Only parents with small kids need apply.
I’m not going to throw up my hands in horror as the Junior is fresh in a current line up that is looking in need of an update. The Tonale has been around since 2022.
Stellantis are having a go and for that I am grateful, grateful for anything that helps keep the cherished and capricious serpent around for another 115 years.
Buona fortuna Junior.
Another example of Alfa being 'different', I just hope they are not pinning the future of the company on this model
Great post!