Italy’s state police has a new weapon in its fight against crime – and hefty fuel bills. It’s Alfa Romeo’s little Tonale SUV, which has received the famous blue and white makeover and a full complement of lights and sirens. You might recall already seeing pictures of a Tonale decked out in police garb, but that was for Italy’s Carabinieri, a separate police force governed by the Ministry of Defense with both military and civilian duties, and whose vehicles feature blue and red liveries. This latest Tonale cop car is for the country’s state police, and wears its equally recognizable light blue and white color scheme that was introduced in the early 1980s – you might remember seeing a Lamborghini Huracan and Gallardo wearing the same outfit.
A total of 850 Tonales are being handed
out to Polizia di Stato officers around Italy, helping carry on a tradition
that dates back to 1952 when authorities took delivery of 400 1900 TI and 1900
Super sedans. Each of the new SUVs is fitted with a 1.5-liter mild hybrid
engine that sends 161 hp to the front wheels via a seven-speed
dual-clutch transmission, which is the same powertrain fitted to base models of
the Tonale offered to the public.
What regular civilian buyers don’t get is
the cop version’s “ballistic and anti-shatter protection,” the blue lights sunk
into the nose on either side of the iconic Alfa grille, roof-mounted lights,
and siren, in-car radio system or a special notch in the door armrest to hold
the lollipop-shaped sign Italian cops like to wave around.
The mild-hybrid Tonale’s 8.8-second zero
to 100 km/h time – call it 9-plus with all the cop gear attached –
means it’s going to be better suited to low-speed urban duties than trying to
catch motorway speeders, but the available 276 hp PHEV’s 6.2-second
performance makes it pretty quick for a small box. Dodge already offers a
version of that same powertrain in its rebadged Tonale, the Hornet, so perhaps
U.S. cops conscious about heavy fuel costs should think about adding one of the
pocket-sized SUVs to their fleets.
