FIRST LOOK： New Milano⧸Junior SUV is Alfa Romeo’s First EV!

This is the Alfa Romeo Milano, the small SUV that aims to dramatically boost the company's sales. Alfa Romeo, of course, is part of the sprawling Stellantis group, so this car is closely related to the Fiat 600e, the Jeep Avenger, Peugeot 2008, Vauxhall Corsa and many more. Ah, but Alfa Romeo says that the Milano is a handbook for the Italian brand, devoted, and I quote, OK, whatever that means. Traditionally, they've done that by providing rorty engines and characterful, charismatic styling, so I hope they've done it this time. The Milano is the first fully electric Alfa Romeo. There will be a hybrid too, powered by a 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo engine. We might get the front-drive version of that in the UK, it's not yet decided, but not the all-wheel-drive iteration. OK, so the name of the game here then is differentiation. Take those same ingredients and try and do something, I don't know, extra spicy or tasty with them. In this case, we're talking about the ECMP platform. Now, the design team, led by Alejandro Mezeneros Romanos, they're not miracle workers, but actually, they've pulled off something pretty cool here, I think. This is a compact car, 4.1 metres long, 1.5 metres tall, it's got good stance, it really does sit pretty well, I think. The telephone dial wheels get a nice modern remix, the overhangs are pleasingly short. In the press bump, Alfa Romeo references the lovely 60s Giulia TZ. That's a reference that could be fatuous if it wasn't actually accurate. You can see a little bit of that coded trunca, as it's called, in the rear of this car, it's great. And at the front, well, they've come up with a new design for the Scudetto, that's the Alfa Romeo Shield. You can either have a Legende, I think I'm pronouncing that right, or Progresso, and I think this is the Progresso one, as you can see, it's pretty bold. The lights, 3x3 they call them, they're full matrix LED jobs. There's been a bit of chatter already online about the face of this car, but look, you know, what do you want? Do you want something that is quite progressive, quite polarising perhaps, something that stays with you, or do we need another generic looking small SUV? My vote is with this, thank you. The electric Milano uses a 54kWh battery pack, the same one you'll find in the Abarth 600e and the Jeep Avenger. Here, it's available in two variants, with either a 154bhp or 238bhp power output, and a single motor driving the front wheels. Alfa claims a range of 250 miles. If the Avenger is anything to go by, that's likely to be closer to 200 in the real world, although we've seen 4.1 miles per kilowatt hour from that car. This being an Alfa Romeo though, the priority might be elsewhere. Which is to say, they're targeting best-in-class handling and performance. Well, of course they are, it's an Alfa Romeo. So, the Milano gets lowered suspension, a faster, more direct steering rack, beefier front and rear anti-roll bars, 20-inch wheels, and if you get the extrovert Veloce version, you get 380mm diameter front brake discs and a self-locking mechanical differential. It should handle really nicely. Alfa's DNA drive mode program reappears here. D is for Dynamic, N for Natural, that's the everyday setting, and A is for Advanced Efficiency. That's actually two words, but everything is softened off in that mode. Alfa Romeo is also very proud that the engineers who developed the wonderful Giulia GTA also did this car. So inside, well, it's the same mission. Conjure some Alfa Romeo-specific atmosphere out of the giant Stellantis parked in the Matrix, and for the most part, I think they've done it. Fans of classic Alfa Romeos will recognise the kind of twin-coiled kind of effect over the instruments. It's actually a digital display in there, of course it is. Nice three-spoke wheel, flat bottom, that's good. I recognise quite a bit of the switchgear in here from other Stellantis cars, but that's okay. Things like the drive selector feel good anyway, the drive mode here, start button here. The infotainment screen can be customised, you can drag and drop widgets. The aircon controls are good. Four-leaf clover effect on the air vents. So when the boss Jean-Pierre Imperato mentioned that they were going to sell this car in Europe with a price starting at €30,000, €200 a month, I did think, how the hell are they going to do it for the price? Well, you know, they've been quite clever about where they save the money. Pretty tough plastics there, but that's soft build. If you get the Veloce one, you get sporty Sabel seats and more colour accents inside. One thing I would say, I am almost six foot three, quite a big guy. I deliberately pushed the steering wheel as far back as I could and brought the seat forward. I do fit behind this seating position, but I wouldn't want to be in there for too long. It is quite cramped back there. Alfa Romeo claims a class leading 400-litre boot capacity, while there's a cable organiser in the frunk. The Milano also promises level two automated driving. There are three trim levels, techno, premium and sport. As well as in-house rivals like the terrific Vauxhall Mokka Electric and the DS3 Crossback E-Tense. There's also incredibly stiff competition from the likes of the smart Hashtag One and the very impressive Volvo EX30. This is the new family car paradigm, but Alfa Romeo, more than anyone else, wants to inject some romance into the equation.