Alfa Romeo Junior

Alfa finally goes electric with a distinctive take on the compact crossover Is that a spring we can detect in Alfa Romeo’s step? After decades of looking like a car company on the brink, this iconic Italian brand finally appears to be eyeing to the future with its head held high, rather peering through its fingers in a state of panic. And it’s largely down to the arrival of this: the new Junior. Sure, an electrified B-segment crossover might not be the car red-blooded Alfa aficionados were holding out for, but for the Torinese bean counters this could just be the car that puts the brand back in the black. With the Tonale, Giulia and Stelvio the firm has about 30% of new car buyers covered, but such is the popularity of small SUVs that Alfa’s top brass reckon the Junior now gives the company twice the market coverage. Either way, Alfa hopes to both attract new customers and lure back former flames that abandoned the firm following the demise of its former compact contenders, the MiTo and Giulietta. In fact, Alfa's UK division is so confident of a sales surge that it’s in the process of appointing six new dealers for 2025, taking them to nearly 30 in total. However, is the Junior really going to have all those new sales assistants rushed-off their feet?Well, we're about to find out. An early taster of the flagship 278bhp Veloce at the brand’s Balocco test track in Italy (and subsequently a short squirt around a Lincolnshire go-kart track) left us quietly impressed, but as that car will make up only about 20% of Junior sales it's likely to a bit-player on the showroom floor. By contrast, the more mundane, mid-ranking Speciale is predicted to be three-times more popular - and it's this version that we've finally been able to sample on UK roads. That said, given the current flaccid demand from retail customers for battery-powered vehicles it's likely that the hybrid-powered Junior due to land on these shores in 2025 is likely to be the most popular with buyers. Until then, the nattily-titled Elettrica is the only game in town.