MiTo TK? THE LATEST FROM ALFA WOULD BE A FUN RIDE IN THE U.S. MARKET.(NEWS)

Byline: JULIAN RENDELL

Alfa Romeo's return to the United States has gone through more twists and turns than an Alpino pass. And the recent tie-up between Fiat and Chrysler brings the added promise that Alfa can finally get a sales toehold in North America. If a recent drive in Alfa's latest model, the Mini-sized MiTo, is anything to go by, that prospect should bring a smile to the face of every car enthusiast in the States.

The MiToMi for Milan, To for Torinois a downsizing step into new territory for Alfa, whose range now stops at the compact 147 hatchback.

But in the Italian home market, small cars such as the MiTo are bread and butter, so, after a dive into parent company Fiat's parts bin, Alfa has surfaced with a front-drive platform developed with a few hundred million dollars from General Motors' development budget.

Just about the only tangible output from the short-lived transatlantic alliance between GM and Fiat was the platform developed for the European Opel Corsa and the Fiat Punto. Now, it's the underpinning for the Alfa MiTo.

Visually, you'd never detect these more humble roots. The MiTo is clad in unique sheetmetal; it may look bug-eyed in photos, but in the metal, those dewy headlamps blend seamlessly into the curvy front end. There's more than a bit of the 8C, Alfa's $100,000 front-engine supercar, in the MiTo, too, so it wouldn't look out of place nestled up to its big brother on a dealership floor.

The interior is a step ...