Designed in Milan, built in Turin (Torino), the Alfa Romeo Mito three-door supermini is the first entry-level Alfa in a long while. There's an added meaning to its name, too: 'mito' also suggests the Italian for myth, or legend, and indeed, this little hatchback comes with an extensive back-story and heritage to live up to. Remember Alfa's last contender of this size, the Alfasud?
The Fiat Group is pulling out all the stops to set the Mito in its context as an Alfa Romeo. It was, in fact, designed by a Argentinian, its basic underpinnings (shared with the Fiat Grande Punto) have been derived from a joint venture with GM, and that name was suggested by a German magazine competition-winner, but there's no way this car could be anything other than an Italian product.
From the snooty shield-shaped front grille, down its flush-doored side to its high-tailing rear with concentric circular LED lights, it's unmistakably an Alfa, but a modern-day one at that - it's no retro pastiche of the Alfasud, as it so easily could have been. Instead, it's a friendly, distilled-down essence of the 8C Competizione super-coupe, and more forward-looking than, say, the BMW Mini (arguably one of its most significant rivals) or Fiat's reborn 500.
The Mito will arrive in the UK in right-hand drive form in January 2009, with three petrol and two diesel engines on offer. The petrols are a normally-aspirated 1.4 16v (95bhp) and turbocharged 120bhp and 155bhp versions of that engine, the diesels the ultra-economical 1.3 and new 120bhp 1.6 JTD Multijet units, familiar from other Fiat Group models. A 230bhp, 1750cc Mito GTA will follow later next year, and options including a double-clutch sequential-shift gearbox are also on the way. Specifications for the UK are badged Turismo, Lusso and Veloce, and prices will start from £10,975 (1.4 16v Turismo).
