Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida hybrid undercuts EV by £6,000

• All-new small SUV with electric or mild hybrid power
• EV range of up to 255 miles
• Prices start from £27,895 for the mild hybrid

The new Alfa Romeo Junior Ibrida is finally here, and it looks like a bit of a bargain. The mild hybrid version of Alfa’s new small SUV costs from just £27,896 – £6,000 less than the ‘Elettrica’ version that went on sale last year.

Importantly, that’s also cheaper than some of the Junior’s key rivals. The Peugeot 2008, for example, costs over £31,000 despite using the same underlying platform and mild hybrid engine. There’s no word yet on whether the Junior Elettrica’s ‘Speciale’ and ‘Veloce’ trim levels will find their way to the Ibrida – for now, there’s just one mild hybrid model to pick.

Wait – what happened to the Alfa Romeo ‘Milano’?

That competitive starting price will be sure to divert attention away from the Junior’s hasty name change that happened a matter of days after its initial reveal. The original ‘Milano’ nameplate was dropped following complaints from the Italian government, who were somewhat disgruntled by the use of an Italian city’s name for a car built in Poland.

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In a statement, Alfa Romeo said: “Despite Alfa Romeo believing that the name meets all legal requirements, and that there are issues much more important than the name of a new car, Alfa Romeo has decided to change it from Milano to Junior in the spirit of promoting mutual understanding.”

With that minor controversy out of the way, the Junior Elettrica went on sale in the UK in June 2024, and now the Ibrida model has joined the lineup, too. Customers will be able to place an order for the mild hybrid from late February 2025 and the first cars should arrive by spring.

What are the important specs for the Alfa Romeo Junior?

Underpinning the Alfa Romeo Junior is the same platform used by the Jeep Avenger and Peugeot E-2008, both similarly-sized SUVs from mutual parent brand Stellantis. The same 54kWh battery and 154bhp electric motor are carried over, delivering up to 255 miles of range in the Junior Elettrica – marginally more than both of its sister cars. Charging speeds top out at 100kW DC, enabling a 10-80% recharge time of under 30 minutes.

Alfa Romeo claims that the Junior has been developed with sportiness as a top priority, and as such will offer the Junior Elettrica in a more powerful ‘Veloce’ trim with two electric motors – something you won’t find in the Jeep or Peugeot. The front and rear motors combine to produce 237bhp, with lower sports suspension, bigger brakes and high-performance tyres keeping the Junior Veloce in check through the corners.

Alongside the electric models, Alfa now offers the Junior as a mild hybrid, badged Ibrida – that’s Italian for hybrid if you hadn’t already guessed. The system combines a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine with a small 48V, 28bhp electric motor.

It’s a setup used by several new cars from Stellantis, delivering 134bhp to the front wheels through a six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. When fitted to the Jeep Avenger, this powertrain returns around 57mpg, so we expect the Junior to achieve a similar figure. A four-wheel drive variant will be offered at a later date, as well.

What about the Junior’s exterior and interior design?

At 4,170mm long, the Junior is the smallest car in Alfa Romeo’s range, but that hasn’t stopped the designers in Turin packing plenty of character into its diminutive footprint. The nose is dominated by the brand’s traditional triangular grille, finished in a chrome mesh for hybrid models or blanked off with a giant Alfa Romeo crest for the EV. It’s flanked by a pair of LED matrix headlights, while a black horizontal band houses the LED tail-lights at the rear.

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There are some neat styling touches inside the cabin, too, most notably the pair of front air vents that mimic the brand’s cloverleaf emblem. The big instrument binnacle is a throwback to the gauge pods found in 1970s Alfa’s, although here the analogue dials are replaced by a 10.25-inch digital display.

Another 10.25-inch screen sits in the centre of the dashboard to handle infotainment duties, while cabin temperature and ventilation are controlled by a separate bank of physical buttons below. Behind the rear row of seats, you’ll find a 400-litre boot, which Alfa Romeo claims is the largest in its class of EVs.

How much does the Alfa Romeo Junior cost and when can I buy one?

The mild hybrid Junior Ibrida is the new entry-point to the range, costing from £27,895.  There are no trim levels to worry about for now, as there’s only one Ibrida model. It gets plenty of standard kit anyway, including 17-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and tail-lights, the pair of 10.25-inch interior screens, rear parking sensors and more.

The Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica costs exactly £6,000 more, starting from £33,895. Junior Elettrica Speciale models get some extra kit, including a sports styling kit, a reversing camera, a massaging driver’s seat, adaptive cruise control and more. Prices for this model start from £35,695.

The top-spec Junior Veloce Elettrica costs from £42,295 and packs the dual-motor setup and performance upgrades, along with black and red leather upholstery for the Sabelt seats.

Interested in a small SUV? Read our top 10 list of the best currently on sale…