The Alfa Romeo Of The Future Won't Be "An iPad With A Car Around It"

Climbing onboard a new Alfa Romeo is like stepping back in time a few years. And we mean that in the best way possible. You get analogue (and very lovely) dials rather than a digital instrument cluster, an abundance of proper buttons, and - gasps - physical climate controls.

With the company’s longitudinal, rear-wheel drive Giorgio platform for the chop and plans afoot to make the brand fully electric by 2027, you might wonder how long this ‘old-fashioned’ cabin approach might last. But thankfully, it’s set to continue long after Alfa ditches internal combustion engines from its cars.

Even after the engines are gone, Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato insists the cars must remain “driver-centred,” French publication Caradisiac reports. Part of that will involve shirking the kind of screen-festooning we’ve already seen from some rival’s early EV efforts, like the Mercedes EQS and its giant ‘Hyperscreen’.

See also: Here’s When The Stellantis Brands Are Going Electric

“[For] Alfa Romeo, I have a very particular positioning,” he said (translated from French), adding, “The driver in the centre, as few screens as possible in the car…I don’t sell an iPad with a car around it, I sell an Alfa Romeo.”

This provides some consolation for the incoming loss of the fantastically shouty 2.9-litre V6s Alfa Romeo currently uses in its Quadrifoglio models. The brand’s electric revolution will happen very rapidly, with its first fully electric models not arriving until 2024.

See also: I Was Sold On The Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, Then I Drove The Giulia Again

The cars will use a platform shared across multiple Stellantis brands, so it’s good news that Imparato is already considering how Alfa-badged cars will retain a distinct identity. Plus, given the surprising amount of differences we discovered recently between the Audi E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan, it’s clear you can make two EVs with the same platform and drivetrain without each having too much of a homogenised feel.

How do you think Alfa’s electric future will pan out?