Alfa Romeo Almost Ready To Start Producing Tonale Pre-Production Models:

According to a recent update on a meeting between Stellantis and the trade union organizations FIM, UILM, FISMIC, UGLM, and AQCF-R in Italy, progress is being made for the new production line at the Pomigliano d’Arco plant, that will produce the upcoming Alfa Romeo Tonale SUV. A meeting was held last Saturday, which discussed how the new assembly process was coming, as well as the launch of the upcoming pre-production models.

The article reports that the first body on the line had already been welded and had made its way through the painting process on a body ‘forklift’ this past weekend. It also indicates that many of the larger systems for the assembly line have been installed, with plant engineering working on finishing up on finalizing the rest of the line. Construction work on a new body warehouse and its connection to the assembly department was set to start this week. 

The Pomigliano d’Arco plant which currently assembles the Fiat Panda will also be retooled to move some of the Panda assembly processes around to accommodate the new line. This should start on Monday, April 29th, with some of the Panda’s assembly being moved to another part of the plant.

For those who aren’t familiar, the 2022 Alfa Romeo Tonale will be the Italian brand’s first C-segment SUV. The C-SUV is expected to become the best-selling vehicle for Alfa Romeo by offering a wide range of gasoline, diesel, and electrified options. The Tonale will be sold worldwide and is expected to arrive in the North American market as well by the end of 2022.

The Tonale will be Alfa Romeo’s first vehicle to feature a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain and should introduce a new turbocharged 1.5-liter ‘Firefly’ inline-four-cylinder producing around 210 horsepower. The five-passenger SUV will offer both front-wheel-drive and electronic all-wheel-drive variants similar to the Jeep® Renegade and Compass 4xe models. 

Bringing a new vehicle market can take several years, so it’s no surprise that the automaker held clinics in which a select few, get a chance to get a sneak peek at the vehicle long before its initial launch to get potential customer feedback. The photos of the Tonale shown in this article were supposedly taken at one such clinic and posted on the Italian-car forum AutoPareri.com before being taken down.

The first pre-production units should start production soon, with testing and validation been conducted this summer. Actual production units are scheduled to begin in December of this year, with the deliveries beginning in January 2022 in the European market.