Alfa MiTo sports some elite DNA

The MiTo offers three settings to optimise performance according to road conditions.

Dynamic mode makes the steering firmer and sharpens the engine response, while adding a few seconds of turbocharged overboost.Only one version of Alfa Romeo's MiTo small car will land in New Zealand - but it will be the top-range flyer, offering all the sporty DNA the Italian carmaker can muster.

The three-door MiTo gets here in July, with a kerb weight of around 1150kg. It is powered by a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol engine that revs "sweetly" to 6500rpm, says the factory, and puts out a stonking 114kW, or 155bhp.

The engine drives the front wheels through a six-speed gearbox and a self-locking differential called Q2, an electronic version of a mechanical limited-slip diff. Q2 is allied to the car's anti-lock brakes and electronic stability system and improves the transfer of drive to the front wheels, braking a scrambling wheel to ease torque steer, or when the front wheels want to pull the car every which way under throttle. Q2 is in use in other Alfa models.

There is also another driver aid dubbed the "DNA" switch. This gives the driver the choice of three settings - dynamic, normal and all-weather - to optimise steering, stability control and overboost according to road and driving conditions. For example, dynamic mode makes the steering firmer and sharpens the engine response, while adding a few seconds of turbocharged overboost.

The factory says the MiTo can sprint from zero to 100km/h in eight seconds and go on to a top speed of 218km/h, or 135mph. The engine's peak torque of 230Nm arrives at 3000rpm.

The name MiTo is "text-speak" for Milano and Torino, the two Italian cities that are Alfa Romeo's home. The MiTo was conceived in Milano and is built in Torino.

The car takes its styling cues from the 8C supercar. "The MiTo is enormously important to Alfa Romeo in New Zealand, as it takes us into a whole new market sector," says Lawrie Malatios, general manager of the brand's importer Ateco Automotive.

"Although Alfa Romeo has had small cars, starting with the legendary AlfaSud through to its modern successor, the 147, the MiTo is not just in the sector below the 147.

"It is focused totally on being a performance and style-driven mini-coupe, not compromised by things like having to have a five-door version.

"This has enabled Alfa Romeo's stylists to produce a car that has a purity of shape and is as much Alfa Romeo as the Spider or Brera."

Malatios says the MiTo will be priced competitively. "We cannot release the prices and specifications yet," he said. "But I think people will pleasantly surprised when we announce them in July."