► Alfa Romeo’s CEO is moving on (within Stellantis)
► We talk to him about the impact he’s had on the brand…
► … and what he hopes to achieve as Stellantis’ EU boss
Jean-Phillippe Imparato, Alfa Romeo’s irrepressibly charismatic leader, has moved on to pastures new. He’s now Stellantis’ European CEO, which means the buck stops with him for all twelve brands the group hawks on the continent. And I’d bet both my kidneys this promotion has made him the busiest man in the motoring industry.
Somehow, I managed to carve an hour out of his packed schedule at the Paris Motor Show to quiz him on the biggest challenges awaiting him in his new role. As a bonus, I found a bit of time to get an update on the health of the brand he’s leaving.
The next few years will be anything but easy for Imparato. He’s battling with tightening EV sales mandates, fresh competition from China and stubborn legislators – but, in typical fashion, he already knows which doors he must boot off their hinges to get things done. Keep reading to learn more about what’s going on in Jean-Phillippe’s head.
Has Imparato managed to save Alfa Romeo?
I’d say he has but, as always, he wasn’t vulgar about his achievements. He humbly said: ‘You are never safe in any state of business, but what we can say is that we are making a profit of several hundreds of millions. So, on that side we are back.’
Imparato is immensely proud of the fact that Alfa Romeo is holding its own because, before he arrived in 2019, it was losing money hand over fist. He turned the brand’s fortunes around quickly – no doubt motivated by Carlos Tavares’ promise to put Alfa’s neck on the chopping block if it didn’t start pulling its weight.
‘The first decision we made in 2021 was to bring the market a B-segment crossover SUV for families that would support Alfa Romeo through this transition phase,’ Imparato told me. ‘From everything that I see, Junior seems to do the job.’
At the time of writing, Alfa Romeo had sold more than 10,000 Juniors – but the car had hardly been on sale for a month. For a company that could barely cover its costs a few years ago, that’s good progress.
But this is just the beginning of Alfa’s comeback. Imparato is handing his successor a detailed product strategy that’ll hopefully ensure Alfa Romeo remains profitable well into the next decade. He explained: ‘To make money, we have a plan. Next step, Stelvio. Next step, Giulia. Next step, Tonale in 2027. And then something else.’
I couldn’t convince Imparato to reveal exactly what that ‘something else’ was, but he’s previously disclosed to CAR magazine that he’ll ‘jump up on the E-segment’ in 2027. I suspect this car will be a huge electric SUV, built on STLA Large, designed to rival the likes of the BMW iX and Mercedes EQS SUV.
Jean-Phillippe was rather coy about what’s coming after 2027, but he was adamant that, whatever it is, Alfa Romeo won’t return to the most affordable vehicle segments. He won’t build a car on Stellantis’ Smart Car Platform.
‘Alfa on Smart Car? No. They have Citroen. They have Fiat. No problem,’ he said. ‘We will fight against the – I would say – the generalists of the world. We have Leapmotor to fight against the Chinese, so allow me with Alfa Romeo to fight the premium [end] of the market with primarily STLA Large.’
Does he feel threatened by incoming Chinese brands?
Not at all. He had a hilarious ‘come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough’ attitude to his new-found competitors, for which my respect is boundless.
He’s also not convinced that the EU’s decision to apply tariffs on Chinese EVs will dam the tsunami of fresh metal crashing in from the east. In his own words, he reckons the extra duty will provide a ‘short-term impact, long-term nothing.’
He elaborated, saying: ‘In the 80s and 90s, we were talking about Toyota, no? Japanese invasion. Bon. 2000 and 2010 was to care about what? Korean! Did you stop them? Did any tariffs stop them? No. It didn’t. Now, it’s Chinese and we [are] prepared. We cannot imagine that we can stop anything by applying tariffs.’
And, strategically at least, Stellantis is playing chess while its European competitors are still fiddling with Lego. In fact, Stellantis is now a part of the Chinese invasion, as it has a controlling interest in a European distribution network for the Hangzhou-based EV manufacturer Leapmotor. Suspicious, no?
Well, at Paris, I chatted to Francesco Giacalone, head of marketing for the Leapmotor joint venture, who said the brand will more than likely help Stellantis develop its electric car tech in the future. I appreciate how cynical this sounds, but it’s almost as if Stellantis knew it couldn’t beat its Chinese rivals – so it joined them. Clever.
Is there anything else getting up Imparato’s nose?
Imparato was very vocal about the lack of support his company (and, indeed the automotive industry as a whole) has received from local governments – especially where charging infrastructure is concerned. ‘We need clarity,’ he said. ‘You hear me? What you want?’
He continued, sporting his best impersonation of a clueless lawmaker: ‘I want to fight against global warming, but I want to stay in the ICE because at the end of the day – at the end of the day, what?! You want to fail the CO2 emissions? Yes, or no? Okay where are the charging stations, my friend? You don’t care. I can bring the EVs, but give me the charging stations, no? I don’t need incentives, I need plugs.’
‘You want us to invest and build EVs? Please give me plugs. Please give me fast charging. Give me 800 volts. Because when you have 700km (435 miles) of range, 18 minutes charging time and 900 horsepower, I can’t even compare electrified cars to ICE. 954 horsepower. 18 minutes to charge. 700 kilometres. It. Is. Not a problem. Anymore. But I need to charge.’
Who’s replacing Imparato?
He’s a softly spoken yet quietly confident Sicilian chap called Santo Ficili (he’s on the right in the picture below) – and he was very keen to tell me how excited he is that Alfa Romeo has an Italian steering the ship once again.
Interestingly, he’ll also oversee Maserati now that Tavares handed the firm’s old boss the sack. That means Alfa and Maserati will be brought closer together, in the hope the former brand’s resurrection strategy will rub off on the latter. It’s no secret that Maserati’s finances have suffered in 2024, with sales falling by 50% compared to 2023.
But that doesn’t mean Maserati will be dragged onto the STLA platforms just yet. It’ll remain special for a little while longer, continuing to make use of the Giorgio platform that underpins the Giulia saloon, GranTurismo Coupe and Grecale SUV.
Imparato said: ‘Giorgio platform could be interesting as well for Maserati from the next step, you see? So, depending on the architecture they want to put in place and the synergies they want to create with Alfa Romeo.
‘Giorgio is interesting – but the question is, how do I show that it is interesting for an electrified world. But for Maserati, Giorgio platform is still on the table because I think that it can be very interesting for little series of very luxury or – how to say – distinctive cars. But it cannot be a mass market proposition.’
Lots to come, then. And perhaps Duracells won’t power them all.