Last year, Alfa Romeo finally launched its Tonale after roughly three years of hidden concept cars and teasing. Fortunately, the result is quite good, because the Tonale is not only a handsome car, but also remains relatively affordable due to its front-wheel drive technology, which is largely borrowed from Fiat. In addition, the newcomer takes the form of a compact SUV, by far the most sought-after format of the moment. All this makes the Alfa Romeo so popular that the Italians have to limit the coffee breaks, to say the least.
Less Pandas, more Tonali
For example, Alfa Romeo has to add a second shift on the Tonale production line to keep up with orders. In this way they hope to be able to produce 400 copies of the compact SUV per day, and that doesn’t seem like a bad pace. However, there are now 35,000 orders in the queue at the factory, and that number could grow considerably. In the course of this year, the Tonale will also be available in the US and the technically similar Dodge Hornet must go into production in Pomigliano.
This is all good news for the employees of the Italian factory, because some 1,600 of them were put on temporary unemployment and can now go back to work. For those who are waiting for a new Fiat Panda, all this may be a bit less rosy since that model is also built in Pomigliano. The production capacity of this is therefore limited to allow the Tonale to take precedence.
