Alfa Romeo's first EV is exactly what you'd expect

But there is a 240hp Veloce version to prevent an Alfisti uprising

We’ll have to forgive Alfa for making its first production EV a compact SUV (understandably it hopes to sell more than a few). Whether or not we can forgive its forthright styling is an open question, and probably one best left till we see it in the flesh. Ditto the fact of its projected range, which for now, courtesy of a 54kWh battery, hovers around the 250 mile mark - which may or may not be enough depending on what you’ve got planned for your new Milano.

The one encouraging element to cling onto at this stage is that Alfa, even as it hopes to ‘attract a new generation of Alfisti fans’ is still expecting some of them to want to drive with old-fashioned purpose. Hence the presence of a range-topping 240hp Veloce derivative that shares its shoutier mechanical configuration with the incoming Abarth 600e (and its platform too, for that matter). According to its maker, this version has been developed by the same team that signed off the Giulia GTA. And we know how that turned out.

Of course, comparing the two is like comparing apples with a fruit no one has heard of, but Alfa is adamant that the ‘lowest weight in the segment and optimal mass distribution’ has helped to make the Milano a decent steer - duly enhanced by the decision to give the Veloce much more direct steering ratio, a wider track and lower the ride height by 25mm onto sportier suspension and brawnier anti-roll bars.

Like the 600e, it also earns a mechanical Torsen self-locking diff and chunkier 380mm front brakes. Not to mention 20-inch wheels which are going to look fairly chunky themselves on a car that’s only a smidge longer than four metres. As ever, the proof will probably be in the price of the pudding, which, for now, we don’t know. The pre-launch talk was all about keeping the Milano as affordable as possible. But that’s what the 156hp cooking version is for - if the Veloce is less than £45k, we’ll eat the nearest cloverleaf.