The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale is a bit more efficient as an EV, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
On Wednesday, the automaker announced official EPA range and MPG estimates (including the MPGe figure) for its new plug-in hybrid crossover. As it starts the journey toward U.S. showrooms, we now know that we should expect an all-electric range of around 33 miles and a gasoline-only rating of 29 MPG. The 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale also manages a 77 MPGe figure, which calculates how much distance the car can travel on 33.7 kilowatt-hours of electricity, or the same energy density as a gallon of gas.
Alfa Romeo notes the total driving range — depleting both the battery and fuel tank — is 330 miles.
The full EV driving range is a little better than we expected, as Alfa Romeo repeatedly quoted a figure of 30 miles or so since the Tonale’s initial debut. The 285-horsepower plug-in hybrid powertrain is the same as what we’ll see in the Dodge Hornet R/T, which is fundamentally the same car underneath, just with a different body and tweaked interior. So, it’s fairly safe to assume we can expect similar economy from that model as well.
In terms of straight-up efficiency, the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale falls short of the Lexus NX 450h+ plug-in hybrid in terms of all-electric range and combined fuel economy. The Lexus, for reference, should go up to 37 miles on a charge and return a combined rating of 36 MPG. It also has a slightly larger tank, so it can manage up to 550 miles in total. That said, the Lexus is also far more expensive at $58,655 to start, to the Tonale’s $44,590 starting price tag.
Another close contender is the Lincoln Corsair PHEV. It manages 28 miles on a charge, 78 MPGe and 33 MPG in terms of its gas-only fuel economy. It’s also priced higher than Alfa’s latest crossover, at $55,280, so the Tonale is the least expensive option of the bunch.
You can get a tax credit with the Tonale, but…
Any day I do talk about the 2024 Alfa Romeo Tonale, I have to mention the tax credit situation. Since the automaker builds the car in Italy, you cannot get the $7,500 tax credit if you finance or purchase the car outright. If you lease the Tonale, though, you can get the tax credit, but you’ll have to deal with lease terms instead of flat-out owning the car. The Lincoln, on the other hand, qualifies for the credit whether you purchase or lease because it’s built in America.
