LEAKED: 2022 Alfa Romeo Tonale Compact SUV:

Back in March, the Alfa Romeo brand introduced its Tonale Concept compact SUV to the world in Geneva. The small sport-utility was a huge hit, drawing a lot of attention to the Italian brand and its future design language. While Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) made it clear in their 5-year plan back in June of 2018, that Alfa Romeo’s intentions are to bring a C-segment SUV to market by 2022. 

Bringing a new vehicle market can take several years, so it’s no surprise that the automaker would be holding clinics in which a select few, to get their feedback on the company’s future products. However, it seems one person at the clinic broke the rules and took pictures of the production-like Tonale and posted the images online for the world to see. The images were posted on Italian-car forum AutoPareri.com before being taken down.

The pictures have given us a good look at what is more likely to come into production when the Tonale hits the market in 2022. Although the vehicle is not finished, we see that this version of the Tonale has a much different front-end styling. Gone are the very narrow LED outlined headlamps from the concept and in their place are more conventional headlamps, which we think give the compact SUV a more menacing face.

The silhouette is still very similar to the concept shown at Geneva, giving a Stelvio-like profile, which much more aggressive body lines lower on the doors. The rear of the vehicle carries over the concept’s body-wide tail lamps and sculpted rear with a more production-like rear valance. 

According to our sources, the production Tonale will be based on FCA’s Small Wide LWB 4×4 architecture. This is the same architecture as the Jeep Compass, Ram ProMaster City, and Fiat Toro/Ram 1000. Our sources are also saying that the compact SUV will feature a variety of powertrains with both turbocharged gasoline and diesel options, depending on the market.

A few of these engines will include the 2.0-liter Multijet II turbodiesel, 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four-cylinder, and the 1.3-liter turbocharged GME-T4 inline-four-cylinder from the Jeep Renegade. Transmission choices will more than likely include a 6-speed manual, a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic for Europe, and a ZF-sourced 9-speed automatic transmission for North America.

Inside, the Tonale looks to be very luxurious with design touches similar to the current Alfa Romeo Stelvio. We can see that Tonale features a gear selector similar to the Jeep Compass, as well as floating tablet-like infotainment system, and massive thin-film-transistor (TFT) screen.

With the success of the Jeep Compass in the global market, an Alfa Romeo-based compact SUV should also give FCA a more dominant stronghold on the C-segment sport-utility market. We can’t wait to see the final product when it hits the market in 2022.

What’s your opinion on the new compact Alfa Romeo SUV? What do you think of the styling? Let us know in the comments below.