It's often said that there are many names for a favourite child. I can probably agree that Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce is a dear child. The name Junior, which used to be Milano and internally goes by Kid, says it all. The change of the original name Milano was mainly due to the fact that the country's Minister of Industry considered the name to be illegal. The name was also met with a lot of political opposition because production takes place in Poland. Therefore, the name was changed from Milano to Junior when the car was already presented and shown. The name Kid is the internal working name and not an official one but is apparently still used. 

What I am leaning against is a fully electric car in the compact SUV format. The test drive was organised at the Arlanda test track right at Arlanda airport outside Stockholm. I can admit that my time and test drive with Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce was not very long. In addition, I was hired by the Swedish Alfa Romeo importer to help with photos and film for the other journalists who were invited. But of course I also got my time with the car.

You can tell it's an Alfa Romeo as soon as you see it. Their design language really stands out and speaks its own clear language and always has done. Like other Alfa Romeo models, the Junior feels like it's sucking up and down the road. It's a suitably aggressive shape that shows that the Junior will offer fun driving. 

When it comes to driving, it's really fun in the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce. In addition, as I said, I had the opportunity to drive it on a test track, very small but still. As I have written here on carscollection.com many times before, electric cars offer that little extra that usually costs a lot of money when it comes to fossil cars. It is no exception in the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce. You have 280 horsepower available from the start and the acceleration from 0 to 100 kilometres per hour for the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce is 5.9 seconds. Top speed is reached at 200 kilometres per hour. These may not be breathtaking figures but they do the job and in a fun and comfortable way. Of course, there are different driving modes in the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce. Since I'm driving on a track, I prefer the Dynamic mode. In Dynamic mode, the steering stiffens up a bit, which is good when it goes a little faster and you want full control when it starts to turn. 

So the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce is very reliable to drive, I would say. It's compact and easy to handle. Even when the road bends sharply and you're travelling faster than you would on a normal stretch of road where normal rules and laws apply. The Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce is easy to feel in control. There's an advanced Torsen differential in the car and it makes the steering wheel automatically want to return to a straight position. It is clear that Alfa Romeo has spent a lot of time working out the negatives of too much power on the front wheels in a small car. It usually becomes very understeered then. But Alfa Romeo has managed to get rid of that through a lot of time on the test track.

As Alfa Romeo is part of the Stellantis group, which also includes brands such as Fiat, Jeep, Peugeot, Opel and even Citroën, the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce shares a lot with its sibling Jeep Avenger. The Jeep Avenger, on the other hand, has a weaker electric motor with only 156 horsepower but based on the same technology. The Jeep Avenger costs 399 900 SEK. In addition to the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce having more horsepower, it also has slightly more expensive components, hence the higher price of SEK 469,900 for the Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce.

So after my time with Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce, which was clearly shorter than other test drives, I still think that Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce is as charming and nice as it looks. If you have the money to spend, I think you should definitely choose an Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce before a Jeep Avenger, and this even though I myself drive a car from Jeep. But that's a whole other story that I won't get into here. 

Alfa Romeo Junior Elettrica Veloce

Price: SEK 469,900

Engine: Electric. Electric motor, max power 280 hp (207 kW), torque 345 Nm. Transmission: Front engine, front wheel drive. Reduction gearbox.

Top speed: 200 km/h

0-100 km/h: 5.9 seconds

Electric range: 322 km

Battery size: 54 kWh of which 51 kWh usable. Charging power AC/DC 11 kW/100 kW. Heat pump.

Weight: 1 660 kg

Dimensions (length/width/height): 4170/1780/1500 mm