Alfa Romeo unveils Tonale SUV; world’s 1st car equipped with an NFT certificate

Italian luxury car manufacturer Alfa Romeo on Tuesday unveiled a new compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) ‘Tonale’ to expand its market share and add electrification in its range.

The world's fourth-largest carmaker’s new SUV Tonale, under new owner Stellantis, has been unveiled as the manufacturer’s first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and also from any Italy-based car manufacturer ever. Stellantis is home to 14 brands like Maserati, Jeep, DS and Lancia.

The new SUV Tonale, which is named after Italy’s Alpine pass, will go up against cars such as Audi Q3, BMW X1 and the Mercedes GLA. The company also plans to spend more than 30 billion euros ($34.2 billion) by 2025 to electrify its vehicle lineup to catch up with rivals, including Tesla.

According to Jean-Philippe Imparato, CEO, Alfa Romeo, the company plans to launch a new car every year until 2030 and to launch only electric cars from 2027. SUV Tonale is expected to launch in the US market in 2023 and the prices are likely to be announced in April this year.

Powertrain

The new Alfa Romeo Tonale is based on a former Fiat Chrysler architecture and its core range is made up of two variants: a mild-hybrid powertrain with a choice of 130hp or 160hp and a plug-in hybrid. Both mild-hybrid variants use a four-cylinder 1.5-litre petrol engine paired to a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. They also depend on a 48V electric motor used for start-up, low-speed driving and cruising in electric mode.

However, the Tonale’s most powerful model - plug-in hybrid version - comes paired to the Fiat 500’s 1.3-litre turbo-petrol engine powering the front wheels and an electric motor connected to the rear. Tonale’s plug-in hybrid version uses a 15.5kWh battery, delivering an output of 275hp. It can achieve 0-100 kph in 6.2 sec and can offer around 60-80 km of electric-only driving range.

Features

The new Tonale also includes bells and whistles like a built-in Amazon Alexa voice assistant, a digital 12.3-inch instrument system along with a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment screen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility and over-the-air updates.

In addition to this, the car also gets a feature that gives the ability to owners to choose their car as a delivery spot for Amazon to deliver parcels, once the car doors are unlocked by the owner remotely.

Safety

The car also features a host of driver assistance systems like adaptive cruise control, traffic-jam assistance, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-path detection. The Tonale is also equipped with a Level 2 autonomous driving system.

Alfa Romeo Tonale is also the first car in the world to have a non-fungible token (NFT) that links the car to a digital certificate based on blockchain that, with the customer’s consent, creates a confidential and non-modifiable record of the car’s life.