Alfa Romeo MiTo to be axed
Another three-door hatch nixed as Italian brand’s smallest model makes way for more SUVsThe unloved Alfa Romeo MiTo three-door hatch will be killed off in 2019 to make way for the Italian brand’s more concentrated assault on SUV sectors.
Alfa Romeo Europe boss Roberta Zerbi confirmed the MiTo will end its production run next year and won’t be replaced.
The smallest Alfa Romeo hatchback has already been axed in Australia, where it was quietly discontinued in 2016 after attracting a few hundred buyers since its launch here in 2009.
The writing was on the board for the MiTo when it did not feature in June’s five-year plan for Alfa, which outlined the arrival schedule of two new SUVs, a replacement for the 8C and a cheaper GTV sports car.
It won’t just be a blow to Alfa Romeo’s grand traditions of building small cars, but a blow to the three-door genre in general, which is facing near-total annihilation.
The three-door hatch segment has taken a hammering lately, with Volkswagen killing off the short versions of the up! and the Polo, Seat dumping the Leon and the Mii (its version of the up!) and Audi offloading the short A3.
Other three-doors killed off recently include the Range Rover Evoque, while the next generations of the Audi A1, Volkswagen Golf and Kia Pro_cee’d will be five-door-only. Mercedes-Benz’s A-Class is now five-door only, too.
A small SUV will be positioned beneath the Stelvio in about two years, and Alfa hopes will attract MiTo buyers (admittedly, there aren’t many of them) as it bridges the gap up from the aging Giulietta.
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