Alfa's premium city car has been doing quite well for itself and the Geneva Motor Show brought us something we've been salivating for since the car's initial debut. While the 240 HP MiTo GTA is about as perfect as we could imagine, the new MiTo Veloce will do just nicely for an interim.

The MiTo Veloce is expected to trump the base car's 1.4-liter, turbocharged, 155 horsepower by a nice shiny quarter by improving the airflow and upgrading the turbo. The same ginger motor can be found in the Fiat Grande Punto Abarth SS. Aside from the power upgrade, the MiTo Veloce will gain a lowered, sportier suspension, clampier brakes, larger alloys and a pretty agro styling kit.

According to our friends at Autoblog.it, the Alfa Romeo MiTo Veloce will make its debut at the AutoRAI 2009 that is held at the Amsterdam Exhibition Center from April 1st through the 11th. Will we ever see the MiTo in any form here in the States? That's a question I'm sure a lot of us our wondering so let's cross our fingers that we get an Italian play thing to challenge those pesky Mini drivers. Fino ad allora!

[via autoblog.it]

It's not that BMW needs help on the engineering front, but by partnering up, the companies gain economies of scale they'll be able to leverage against their suppliers for a better price. Guess all's fair in love and the battle against rising material costs. [Auto News Europe]

Alfa Mi.To: World Premiere

With the Mi.To, Alfa Romeo wishes to offer a new generation of Alfa aficionados the most compact sports car ever.
An up-to-date and innovative car, a name redolent of history. The name Mi.To has great evocative resonance for Alfa Romeo, since it was chosen as a sign of a deep-seated link between the past and future of the brand: between Milan, the city of design that brought the car's style into being, and Turin, which will be responsible for its industrial production. A decision that highlights the brand's strong desire to consolidate its Milanese roots.
The Mi.To is the first car to be built since the 8C Competizione, Alfa Romeo's icon of style and technology, from which it borrows certain characteristic traits: the particular shape of the unframed side windows, the three-lobed motif that distinguishes the front bumper, the shape of the headlights and the LED tail lights. The headlights and tail lights represent a distinctive personalised feature: a frame featuring different forms of material processing and colours to create an ultra-stylish eye-liner effect that underscores the car's style and aggression.
The highly personal dashboard and seats ensure that the interior represents the ultimate expression of Italian style, welcoming yet sporty, with top-quality materials and the closest attention to detail.
The greatest thought has also gone into defining the dimensions, which add up to a compact and dynamic shape: the Mi.To is 4.06 metres long, 1.44 metres high and 1.72 metres wide.
Style, design, and more: performance and technology must always be top-of-the-range in an Alfa Romeo. As all the brand's models, the Mi.To is able to appeal to the most demanding customers with its exciting driveability, determined partly to the Alfa DNA system. This control acts on the engine, brakes, steering, suspension and gearbox, allowing three different vehicle behaviour modes based on the driving style best suited to the situation or the customer's wishes: supersporting (Dynamic), town driving (Normal), maximum safety even in difficult grip conditions (All-Weather). Mi.To is the first car in its segment to offer such innovative technological content.
Great performances are guaranteed by a range of 4 engines, all Turbo (petrol and diesel), that currently range from 90 hp up to 155 hp, with the range due to be extended by even higher power ratings.
Performance and handling have been developed and optimised to offer maximum driving satisfaction in complete safety. The Mi.To offers true Alfa Romeo sporting ride, featuring contractive suspensions - standard on all specifications and engines - that considerably reduce roll and maximum active, passive and preventive safety: VDC stability system as standard and a vehicle structure that is already designed to obtain the top EuroNCAP rating in the future.
The Alfa Mi.To will be introduced to the international press during June and will then be gradually introduced from July in all the major markets.

[Alfa Romeo via WCF]