Axed Italian hatch will be reincarnated as a pint-size electric SUV based on the Jeep Avenger
As the next plank in Alfa Romeo’s plan to go all-EV by 2027, the born-again MiTo will be one of three co-developed Stellantis light SUVs alongside the Jeep and what’s known presently as the Fiat 600.
All three compact SUVs will share the same basic genetics but cater to slightly different markets as per their respective brand identities.
The MiTo nameplate hasn’t been locked in for the new baby Alfa as yet, but it’s understood to be the most likely title at this stage, with senior Alfa management expected to make the formal announcement in September.
We’re yet to see even a teaser image of the upcoming model, but that hasn’t stopped the auto industry’s graphic designers from imagining what the smallest Alfa Romeo since the MiTo was axed in 2019 will look like, and the most eye-catching digital images come from Motor.es.
Resembling a shrunken Alfa Romeo Tonale with some crisper body contouring and an angrier front lighting signature, the rendered MiTo honours its three-door hatchback lineage with hidden rear door-handles and minimal overhangs front and rear, but that’s about where the similarities stop.
The vehicle rendered here sports the same overall proportions as the Avenger but dispatches the blocky, squared-off features in favour of a more flowing aesthetic stemming from the rounded nose cone.
Just about every line leads back to the subtly flared but elevated rear haunches, behind which sit the tail-lights and what’s sure to be a chiselled rear bumper.
The classic clover leaf-style alloy wheels are present, along with sporty red brake callipers and low-profile tyres to help underline Alfa’s sporting brand identity, however, there is still some black cladding around the bottom edges of the wheel-arches and side skirts to highlight its identity as an SUV.
Internal combustion, electrified and fully electric powertrains are all expected to materialise under the bonnet of the new MiTo in that order, with Motor.es speculating the model will beat the bigger Tonale by becoming the first zero-emission Alfa Romeo product to enter showrooms globally.
We don’t have an official timeline yet, but you can expect to see such a vehicle as soon as next year, given Alfa’s head of product planning Daniel Guzzafame said back in February 2022 that the Italian car-maker would produce its first EV in 2024.
“We will be launching the first BEV vehicle in 2024; a different vehicle – we will announce it later – and the first full-electric and electric-only vehicle [dedicated EV) in ’25, and by 2027 we will be globally selling electric-only vehicles,” he told carsales at the time.
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Keyword: Alfa Romeo MiTo to be reborn as a compact SUV