Alfa Romeo Junior hybrid and EV 2026 finally arrives to take on the Mini Aceman and Lexus LBX 

Alfa Romeo has planned an sudden shake up of the compact SUV market in Australia with the re-introduction of its iconic Junior nameplate, now reimagined as a steady-hybrid and dedicated electric.

Prices originate from $forty five,900 for the hybrid, identified because the Ibrida, and $57,900 for the Elettrica EV, both earlier than on-avenue expenses.

The Elettrica shall be Alfa’s first foray into electric automobiles, with both objects of Junior carefully sharing parts from the Stellantis e-CMP2 platform.

The Junior is a properly little car — lower than 4.2m long, below 1.8m wide and proper 1.5 metres immense. Wheels are pushed to all four corners and, as a bonus, both automobiles are light weight at 1280kg (Ibrida) and 1545kg (Elettrica).

No matter powertrain, identical earlier instruments on the Junior entails:

• 18-whisk alloy wheels
• Matrix LED headlights
• LED relief lights
• Two-tone roof
• Leather steering wheel
• Adaptive cruise withhold a watch on
• Tyre stress monitoring
• Rain sensing wipers
• Twin 10.25-Streak touchscreen and driver monitors
• Wi-fi CarPlay and Android Auto
• 6 speaker stereo
• Wi-fi phone charging
• Electronically adjustable heated front seats

The Ibrida’s forty eight-volt gentle hybrid machine capabilities a 100kW 1.2-litre turbocharged petrol three cylinder and 21kW electric motor built-in into a six-velocity dual snatch transmission. Mixed outputs 107kW/230Nm, with speak sent exclusively to the front wheels.

Rated gas economy is an spectacular 4.1L/100km (NEDC).

Unlike a quantity of plugless hybrids fancy the Nissan Qashqai or Toyota Camry, which both toughen instant EV simplest utilizing, the Ibrida is cramped to capabilities fancy plain-velocity creeping in traffic, rolling stop-originate, and EV propulsion for parking maneuvers.

The Junior Ibrida finds few opponents in its top payment MHEV section, primarily butting heads with the $47,550 Lexus LBX or more moderately priced, more rate centered $31,790 Toyota Yaris Defective, which leads the compact-hybrid section.

Dispute combustion-simplest opponents encompass the $49,400 Audi Q2 and $41,990 Volkswagen T-Roc. All costs are earlier than on-avenue expenses.

The Junior Elettrica is more vital than its hybrid counterpart, producing 115kW/260Nm. It capabilities a 54kWh battery and front axle-mounted electric motor – a machine in a position to turning in 407km of WLTP vary.

Peak AC charging is rated at 11kW, and DC height is 100kW. Plugged into a hasty DC charger, the Junior Elettrica can attain a 10-80 percent recharge in 30 minutes.

In the compact EV section, the Elettrica is bombarded with competition. Price-centered opponents encompass the MG4, Kia EV3, and BYD Dolphin.

More vogue-centered opponents with higher tag tags encompass the $55,990 Mini Aceman, $59,990 Volvo EX30, and smaller $39,000 Hyundai Inster.

Final year, Alfa Romeo made up 0.05 percent of the total Australian Automotive market, contributing 561 sales out of 1.2 million.

The iconic Stellantis-owned Italian brand hopes the Junior will “secure over a brand new skills” when it arrives later this month.