There’s a lot of good graphic design out there in the automotive world, especially when it comes to the logos and nameplates used by different companies. Alfa Romeo’s badge has been around since 1910, and it combines Milan’s cross symbol with a snake that has a human in its mouth. (Despite how it seems, apparently the human is being reborn, not eaten.) Now the Italian brand has unveiled its first fully electric production car, the new Milano compact crossover, and its grille is a genius use of the brand’s, uh, branding.
Like nearly every other Alfa in history, the Milano has a triangular shield-shaped grille in the nose, but instead of a typical mesh pattern or grille slats, the intake is formed by an insert that’s shaped like snake-and-cross logo. Well, the logo is actually cut out of panel, like Alfa’s designers used a cookie cutter on the model. It’s something that I’ve never seen done before, and I think it looks very cool.
The Milano will also be available with gas-powered engines, and those models will get a different grille treatment that is distinctly retro. Instead of the snake design, the gas Milano’s grille has a full mesh insert with a large Alfa Romeo script set at an angle in the center. The script is in Alfa’s cursive font that was used in the first few decades of the brand’s existence, and the design calls back to some of Alfa’s most iconic race cars and road-going sports cars.
Grille aside, the rest of the Milano’s exterior design is interesting, to say the least. I’ll let Alfa’s press release speak for itself here:
Alfa Romeo’s stylists have modeled this ‘skin’ with artisanal care on the mechanical parts, completely detaching themselves from the concepts of cold rationality in vogue in the class, to breathe life into a sinuous and exciting design that catches the eye at first sight. This creates a genuine emotional connection between the driver and the car, even going as far as resulting in a strong desire to caress it.
Sure. It has a frowny face with long LED headlights that wrap around to form small intakes on each side of the grille, and a large lower bumper opening. The bodysides are smooth and nicely sculpted, and the rear door handles and the rear door handles are hidden in the kicked-up C-pillar that creates a de rigueur floating roof design. The “truncacted tail” was inspired by the Giulia TZ, with a thin bar wrapping around the lip of the hatch that houses the taillights. At 164.2 inches long and 59 inches tall the Milano is about the size of a Kia Soul, and it has short overhangs with big wheels pushed to the corners.
Though not as interesting, the Milano’s interior looks pretty good. A 10.3-inch touchscreen is canted toward the driver, and a 10.3-inch digital gauge cluster is set in a “telescope design” surround that’s reminiscent of huge vintage gauges. There’s a bank of physical buttons below the center screen, and shifter buttons and the engine start button on the tall, thin center console. The Milano is available with Sabelt sport seats that look genuinely great, and the air vents feature the logo’s snake and are shaped like a four-leaf clover, a classic Alfa motif. Alfa says the Milano has the most spacious cargo area in its class, and the back seat looks pretty nice, too.
The Milano rides on the same CMP platform as other Stellantis products like the Jeep Avenger and Fiat 600e. The electric version of the Milano is called the Elettrica, and it pairs a 54-kWh battery pack with a single electric motor that makes either 156 or 240 horsepower, depending on spec. Alfa says the lower-powered version has a range of 255 miles on the European WLTP cycle — pretty good for a small car — and it can be recharged at up to 100 kW to go from 10 to 80 percent charge in under 30 minutes. The Veloce version has sport-tuned steering and lowered suspension, larger brakes, 20-inch wheels with performance tires, and a mechanical self-locking differential.
Then there are the Ibrida hybrid models, which pair a turbocharged 1.2-liter inline-3 engine with a 48-volt lithium-ion battery pack and a 21-kW electric motor that’s built into the 6-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Total output is 136 horsepower, and the hybrid will be available with front- or all-wheel drive. While Alfa doesn’t give any range specs, it says the Milano Ibrida can do 93 mph on just electricity.
It doesn’t seem like the Milano will make its way to our shores, which is a shame. This ’lil crossover seems to have a lot more personality than the larger Alfa Romeo Tonale and its Dodge Hornet sibling, not to mention many of the other small cars in the U.S., but it would almost certainly be a hard sell for most American consumers. Hopefully the electric Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV replacements that are coming within the next couple years will have a lot of the Milano’s charm.
