The Mito has been Alfa Romeo's best-selling model in Argentina in recent years and the Italian brand's last classic small car in the B segment. Some believe that the new Alfa Junior is the successor to the Mito, but Argentinian designer Juan Manuel Díaz disagrees: "It is poorly executed,” said Díaz.
Mito was Díaz's great creation. The first production car to bear his signature and a car that achieved impressive sales figures in several markets. Unfortunately, a five-door version was never available. The design of the three-door model was inspired by some of the characteristics of the most famous Alfa Romeo model of the time: the 8C Competizione coupé.
Now Diaz has revealed an open secret from his time at Alfa. The convertible version was designed as a tribute to the 8C Spider model. The development has even reached the stage of an almost serial model. It was characterized by the complete absence of a roof, but retained the rear seats (which were covered by two blinds, very similar to those of the 8C Spider).
Diaz announced this on his social networks: "Yes, there was a project for the Mito Cabrio, but Sergio Marchionne (the then CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) did not see a market for it. Marchionne's vision went in a different direction and was very broad. There was not enough money to complete the series. Alfa's problem has always been marketing. The Kamal SUV was ready for production in 2006, but the project was canceled because they thought the SUV craze was over."
The Mito Cabrio could compete with rivals such as the Mini Cabrio, which the BMW Group still produces in the UK today. Other convertibles in the same segment that it could compete with are the DS 3 Cabrio and the Audi A3 Cabrio. Last April, in an interview, Diaz talked about the Alfa Romeo Milano (later renamed "Junior") and compared it to the Mito, which he designed himself.
"Alfa Milano/Junior is marketed as the successor to the Mito model. In fact, this is a car from a different segment: it is bigger. When we designed the original Mito model, we proposed an SUV of this size to offer a five-door alternative. Sergio Marchionne, then CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, rejected the proposal because he thought it would not be successful.
But the car is available, the Milano/Junior product is good, the Alfa Romeo market needs it: this is the segment Alfa Romeo has to chase, and as it is based on a platform already used by Peugeot, Opel, Jeep and Fiat, the production of course, the cost of the vehicle is considerably reduced. Save big on technology and electrical equipment. This is a market that Alfa Romeo needs, but two particularities must be taken into account: It is a segment in which the Chinese are very strongly penetrating Europe and the rest of the world with vehicles that are technically superior to the European ones.
Successor to Myth? – Alfa Romeo Junior
I'm not just talking about Alfa Romeo or Stellantis products, but on a European level: the Chinese have better technology than the Europeans and are penetrating this market very strongly. I would like to emphasize: very strongly. Whether a car is successful or not depends on the market. The Mito was a smaller car that appealed to future Alfa lovers. It was a cheaper car, almost half the price of the Milano/Junior model.
Today, due to the economic crisis in Europe, I don't know if the buyers for this car are the same as for Mito. Speaking of design: Alfa Romeo is a brand that doesn't need embellishments. This is a car that must be defined by the 'trilobo', i.e. scudetto and two side air intakes. It is not possible to read the "trilobe" on Milan: It is as if erased. It is an attempt at modernity, a breakthrough that seems interesting but is poorly executed.
The results have to be seen on the road: The front end has too many parts and too many fake air intakes. I feel that these details are something that is not of high quality, that is not of high quality. If you start making holes and end up covering them with plastic, some of them are more or less fine, but the generality of the front in this case seems a bit excessive to me.
Successor to Myth? – Alfa Romeo Junior
The proportions of the front end are not good either, the front of the car has the same problem as the Alfa Tonale: there is an intention to make the front end negative, which is not there, and the side end is not very pronounced. Alfa Romeo was also known for always having a "shoulder" at the back, and here the shoulder is very small.
The last part of Milan seems completely anonymous to me. In fact, there are pictures circulating of a Vinfast car from the same segment as the Milano, which looks a lot like this car that hit the market a year or two ago. But here, too, the market will decide. We will have to wait and see what the market has to say about this car.”
