While the MiTo may lift a number of its styling cues from the gorgeous fire breather that is the 8C Competizione, its current line-up comprises a series of city runabouts and warm hatches. Alfa hopes the MiTo GTA Concept will help to spice things up.
By Gareth Dean
Making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show, the Alfa Romeo MiTo GTA Concept trades on a combination of squeezing as much power from the company’s 1 742 cc four-pot engine as feasible while slicing off superfluous weight wherever possible.
In the weight-saving department, components such as the rear spoiler, roof and mirror fairings are fashioned from carbon-fibre; and Alfa has made extensive use of aluminium in the braking system, suspension, and some parts of the chassis.
Beneath the bonnet sits a turbocharged 1 742 cc petrol engine with direct fuel-injection, variable-valve timing, and a host of electronic engine managing systems. This unit develops a hearty 179 kW, effectively placing the GTA ahead of such rivals as the Mini Cooper and its Works counterpart in terms of outright grunt…pretty impressive considering the limited displacement with which the Fiat Powertrain Technologies team had to work.
Alfa has dropped the GTA’s ride height by 20 mm compared to the standard car and utilised a revised suspension set-up that features aluminium leading arms up front, and a torsion beam at the rear. The suspension also features the company’s advanced damper control system, which Alfa claims is capable of counteracting load transfer under hard acceleration by stiffening the rear suspension to increase grip. Alfa’s Q2 limited-slip differential is also likely to become part of the GTA treatment.
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The Concept also features a Sky Hook function, similar to that utilised by Maserati, which is basically an adaptive suspension module that irons out road corrugations in everyday driving.
The GTA Concept’s styling package includes a model-exclusive aero kit, flared wheel arches and front air dam surrounds, and a sizable rear diffuser.
Although most, if not all, of the carbon-fibre componentry is likely to vanish on the finished article, this concept does not appear too far from being production-viable…the only question now is will it ever find its way over here?