Alfa Romeo reveals Tonale SUV, world's first car to be fitted with an NFT accreditation

Alfa Romeo, an Italian luxury automobile maker, revealed the Tone, a new compact sport utility vehicle (SUV) to extend its market share and add electrification to its lineup on Tuesday.

The new SUV Tonale from the world's fourth-largest carmaker, under new owner Stellantis, has been introduced as the company's first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, as well as the first from any Italy-based car manufacturer ever. Maserati, Jeep, DS, and Lancia are among the 14 manufacturers represented at Stellantis.

The new Tonale SUV will compete against the Audi Q3, BMW X1 and Mercedes GLA, which are all named after Italy's Alpine pass. To keep up with rivals such as Tesla, the business also expects to invest more than 30 billion euros ($34.2 billion) by 2025 to electrify its car inventory.

According to Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato, the business expects to release a new car every year until 2030, and then just electric cars starting in 2027. Tonale is set to debut in the United States in 2023, with pricing to be disclosed in April of this year.

Powertrain

The new Alfa Romeo Tonale is based on a previous Fiat Chrysler design and comes in two versions: a mild hybrid with 130hp or 160hp and a plug-in hybrid. A four-cylinder 1.5-litre petrol engine is combined with a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox in both mild-hybrid models. They also rely on a 48V electric motor for starting, low-speed driving, and electric cruising.

However, the Tonale's most powerful model, the plug-in hybrid, is equipped with a 1.3-litre turbo-petrol engine driving the front wheels and a rear-mounted electric motor. Tonale's plug-in hybrid version has a 15.5kWh battery and produces 275 horsepower. It has a 0-100 kph time of 6.2 seconds and a range of 60-80 kilometres on electric power alone.

Features

A built-in Amazon Alexa voice assistant, a computerised 12.3-inch instrument system with a 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment panel, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, and over-the-air upgrades are all included in the new Tonale.

In addition, the car will have a feature that allows owners to pick their car as a delivery location for Amazon products once the car doors are unlocked remotely by the owner.

Safety

Adaptive cruise control, traffic-jam assistance, frontal collision warning, automated emergency braking, pedestrian identification, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-path detection are among the car's many driver aid features. A Level 2 automated driving system is also available on the Tonale.

The Alfa Romeo Tonale is also the first automobile in the world to include a non-fungible token (NFT) that connects the car to a blockchain-based digital certificate that generates a confidential and non-modifiable record of the car's life with the customer's approval.