By Otsile Kadiege

Alfa Romeo recently took the veil off the brand’s new Milano which is yet another premium compact SUV for the Italian automaker. The name Milano was sourced from Milan, which is where Alfa Romeo was founded back in 1910. Alfa’s newcomer ushers in a distinctive new design language, a sporty and premium cabin with the latest gizmos, a handful of advanced assistance systems and a variety of powertrain options – including an all-electric version.

Distinctive exterior

The Milano is unmistakably Alfa Romeo thanks to a design which is distinctive and charismatic. Some of its exterior highlights, up front include the legendary Alfa Romeo shield, in the Leggenda and Progresso variants, flanked by ‘3+3’ full LED Matrix headlights and a large mesh grille on the lower front bumper giving the Milano an aggressive, sporty look.

The profile of the 4.17 meters long Milano is characterised by a contrasting black roof, limited overhangs and muscular wheel arches with contrasting cladding. There are few wheel designs to choose from, but the one that catches the eye is the Milano Veloce’s modern interpretation of Alfa’s teledial wheels measuring 20-inches in size.

Moving over to the rear, the Milano sports a the iconic ‘truncated tail,’ a reference to the legendary Giulia TZ, an integrated roof spoiler, ‘3+3’ LED taillights and “Alfa Romeo” lettering on the tailgate.

Premium, sporty interior

Stepping inside, the new Milano gets a flat-bottom style multifunctional steering wheel, a customisable 10.25-inch digital cluster, another driver-focused 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen running on the latest Alfa operating system which is configurable to your liking and is equipped with Alfa Connected Services and has OTA technology. More highlights include sporty Sabelt seats for the Milano Veloce, a centre console with switch gear sourced from other Stellantis stablemates, air conditioning vents in the shape of a quadrifoglio (four-leaf clover) and an impressive 400 litres luggage capacity for the electric Milano.

Assistance systems

Alfa Romeo has crammed the Milano with a series of driver assistance features, to help with the longitudinal and lateral control of the vehicle (level 2 autonomous driving). Together with the 360-degree parking sensors, the 180-degree rear camera monitors the surrounding area, for an innovative and practical semi-autonomous parking system.

Alfa Romeo’s first EV

In the electric version of the Milano is available in two power versions, 156 or 240 hp (116kW and 179kW respectively). The 54-kWh battery offers high energy density and a very good ratio of rated to usable energy. Specifically, in the 116kW version the lithium-ion battery pack provides a claimed 410 km of range in the WLTP cycle, or 590 km in the urban cycle. Charging up the new Milano at 100-kW DC fast charging stations is said to take less than 30 minutes to charge the batteries from 10 to 80%.

The internal combustion engine makes use of a 136hp (101kW) 1.2-liter 3-cylinder engine with variable-geometry turbo. The electrical component consists of a 48-volt lithium-ion battery and a 21-kW electric motor built into the 6-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

The new Milano is based on its stablemates like the Peugeot 2008 and the Opel Corsa. However, to make the Milano deliver typical Alfa Romeo driving dynamism, the automaker handed-over the Milano to the team that helped develop the driving dynamics of the ultra-rare Giulia GTA. As a result, Alfa Romeo claims the Milano has has the most direct steering in the segment (14.6).

In the Milano Veloce, the sports suspension has been lowered by 25 mm; the front and rear anti-roll bars are extra sporty for quick cornering with a high level of grip; the braking system has front discs of over 380 mm with four-piston monobloc calipers and the Torsen differential is said to offer the best possible traction in all conditions. The high-performance 20-inch tyres are also specific to electric vehicles and are said to offer extensive levels of grip.

Availability

Alfa Romeo South Africa is yet to announce local availability and model range as well as pricing.