Those with Italian car-itus will be pleasantly surprised with this Cinque terror

Meet the Junior, Alfa Romeo’s first fully electric offering and a city-friendly slice of striking Italian design.

Alfa Romeo, Junior Elettrica, Veloce 280

Andrew Chesterton

3 min read

4:30AMSeptember 09, 2024.

Updated 9:04AMSeptember 09, 2024

You want to know the saddest thing about those swarms of sweaty tourists who descend upon Italy’s hotspots every summer, trudging between villages in the Cinque Terre, posing with fake gladiators outside the Colosseum, or getting royally fleeced by a crooning gondolier in Venice?

All those people – every single one of them – are missing out on one of Italy’s true treasures, and a place every bit as steeped in history as any of Rome’s historic sites. Well, at least for those of us with that wallet-lightening affliction known as Italian car-itus.

Because somewhere between Milan and Turin, hidden in the farms of northern Italy’s Piedmont region, lies Alfa Romeo’s famed Balocco test facility and proving ground.

This former farm has been Alfa Romeo’s product test track since the early 1960s, and that means every swooningly stylish vehicle the brand has produced since – from the stunning Giulia Sprint GT in 1965 to the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione in 2007 – was tuned, tested and perfected right here.

Fitting, then, that we find ourselves at a place so rich in Alfa history to drive a product that is so critical to the 114-year-old carmaker’s future – the Junior, the brand’s first all-electric offering.

Alfa has already dipped its toe in the electrification pond with the Tonale plug-in hybrid small SUV. But this is the full electric show, and it comes in a tiny package.

In one of the more comical PR disasters of recent times, the Junior actually began life as the Milano, until – just days before the vehicle’s official unveiling – the Italian government slammed that door shut, insisting that no vehicle built outside the country could wear the name of an Italian city.

After some mad scrambling, the Milano, which is built in Poland but very much Italian designed, was quickly rebranded as Junior, a name plucked from Alfa Romeo’s extensive back catalogue, having first appeared on the GT 1300 Junior black in 1966.

They could have gone with Polando, I guess, but Junior definitely has a nicer ring to it. And it actually is rather junior – the city-friendly SUV measures less than four metres long.

Full specification and pricing is yet to be locked in, but we’ve been told to expect to pay somewhere around $100,000 for the flagship performance QV version, which is the one you’d obviously want if you have Italian car-itus (entry-level variants could be closer to $60K, but nothing is confirmed yet).

When Alfa Romeo ripped off the covers of the Junior in April, the exterior design had some scratching their heads. The brand, sometimes accused of putting form above all else, never produces unattractive vehicles, but the Junior’s busy front end and bizarre grille treatment didn’t seem to be in keeping with the other cars in its range – the handsome Tonale, Giulia and Stelvio.

In the metal, however, the Junior is striking. The front end looks like a modern take on the Junior models of the 1960s, with the headlights pushed to the furthest corners and even the famed bonnet shut line has been mimicked through the use of LED lights. It all works surprisingly well with the squat stance, chunky wheel arches and beautifully crafted rear end.

Alfa knew it needed a bold design to capture the attention of the TikTok generation, and it is mission accomplished on that front.

Propelling the entry grade EV is a single electric motor delivering power and torque of 115kW and 260Nm, while the Veloce gets a bit of a boost with 207kW and 345Nm, ensuring a brisk 0-100km/hour dash of just 5.9 seconds.

Both electric Juniors use a 54kWh lithium-ion battery, delivering a driving range of up to 410km for the Elettrica, and up to 334km for the Elettrica Veloce.

The only variant available to drive at the international launch was the flagship Elettrica Veloce, and the reason we were confined to the proving ground was because the Junior is yet to be homologated and couldn’t be driven on public roads. Not that we were complaining.

The Alfa team opened up the Langhe circuit at Balocco, which is rarely used by anyone but Alfa’s engineering and dynamics team. The circuit’s winding roads nicely showcased the impressive work Alfa’s put in to ensure the Junior drives like a true Alfa Romeo.

According to Alfa’s head of products, Daniel Guzzafame, the Junior was benchmarked against the Volvo EX30 for comfort, the Mini Cooper for low-speed handling and dynamics, and the BMW i4 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 N for high-speed handling.

The Junior is light for an EV (1590kg), which helps it carve up corners with barely a hint of body roll, all while avoiding the bottom-heavy floatiness of many EVs. Offering grip for days, the Veloce is playful, but never feels out of control. Steering is as sharp and direct as an Alfa should be, while acceleration is undeniably fast, yet smooth.

This spicy Italian entree has whet the appetite for the full Junior range – and the range-topping QV in particular – which lands in Australia sometime in 2025.