Ken Gratton•21 Jun 2013
NEWS
Facelifted Alfa Romeo MiTo due in Q4
Fiat Chrysler to relaunch baby Alfa with improved value?Alfa Romeo has announced a mild facelift of the smallest car in its range, the MiTo hatch.
The cosmetic upgrade is subtle, but can be picked by a chrome grille, which draws parallels with the larger Giulietta model, burnished headlight bezels and restyled 15-inch alloy wheels for the entry-level Impression grade. A new colour, Anthracite Grey, is added to the exterior colour selection palette.
The two-cylinder TwinAir motor, developing 72kW is now available to MiTo buyers and the interior has been revised with UConnect infotainment system, a new dash and three new interior trim combinations.
In European markets the MiTo is sold in five grades, starting with Impression and followed, in ascending order, by Progression, Distinctive, Superbike and Quadrifoglio Verde.
As we reported back in February, the new (2014) model year of MiTo will launch in Australia later this year. Karla Leach, Fiat Chrysler's Director of Corporate Affairs here, has pinned that down to the fourth quarter of this year, and the 2014 MiTo "will bring a couple of new, fresh features to it, that also help position it within the family..." she told motoring.com.au yesterday.
Asked whether we can expect pricing and specification changes beyond those already revealed by Alfa Romeo in Europe, Ms Leach said that "There will be, but we're not going to release any [details about] that at this stage."
So further information will have to wait until closer to the local launch, but it's likely that the MiTo will be repriced, repackaged and repositioned for the Australian market, as the importer has already done with the Fiat 500 and the Alfa Giulietta.
"What we've done with Giulietta and Fiat 500, we're going to give [MiTo] the same fair treatment in the back half of the year," Ms Leach said.
"Obviously it's part of our strategy to bring the best cars with the best specs to Australia."
Ms Leach confirmed that Fiat Chrysler still has stocks of the pre-facelift MiTo, but sales are slow and the car has not been promoted heavily since the factory acquired distribution of the brand from Ateco.
"We've basically inherited MiTo and haven't really done anything significant – from a media perspective – since then," Ms Leach acknowledged.
"It's probably not what it needs to be, sitting in the market at the moment."
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Written byKen Gratton
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