We humans share 96 per cent of our genetic composition with chimpanzees. So, although Tarzan didn’t look much like his best friend Cheetah, the two were apparently almost identical.
And it’s the same with cars. The first Audi TT was a VW Golf under the mask, while the new oh-so-cute Fiat 500 and the latest Ford Ka are, in fact, Fiat Pandas in pretty dresses.
The close link between apparently disparate cars is due to a car industry phenomenon called platform sharing.
A platform is generally the floor plan, the suspension, the steering and the engines, although sometimes many other components are pooled. Clever tuning allows for very different driving characteristics and performance, which is
why the Audi TT felt a world away from a VW hatchback. Sharing platforms reduces costs and enables car makers profitably to build niche models, and there are many other apparently distinct cars that are genetically similar. These include the Citroën C4 Picasso MPV and the Peugeot 308 hatch, the Bentley Continental GT coupé and the Audi A8, and the new Volvo XC60 SUV and the Ford Mondeo.
But surely one of the most unlikely pieces of genetic engineering is the new Alfa Romeo MiTo. This is a very timely small car launched by a maker with heady ambitions. It competes against posh little cars such as BMW’s Mini and pairs Alfa’s emotional body language — it looks like a scaled down version of the amazing 8C sports car — with (wait for it) a Fiat Punto. The awkward model name stands for Milan (Alfa’s traditional home) and Torino or Turin (headquarters of Fiat and where the MiTo was engineered and is built). Naturally, the Punto parts are all tuned to give a sportier and more engaging driving experience. You also sit lower, bum nearer the action.
The MiTo is the spiritual successor to the old Alfasud, launched in 1971, the best handling and most agile baby car of its day. The MiTo is nowhere near as ambitious: mechanically it’s a conventional hatch. But it’s pretty, lively, economical to run, inexpensive and is at the core of Alfa’s attempted resurrection as a leading premium player. Back when BMW built ‘bubble’ cars, and was about as premium as an Aldi carrier bag, Alfa Romeo was the sports sedan of choice. Now BMW outsells Alfa worldwide by more than six-to-one.
An Alfa using a Fiat platform is nothing new. The only Alfa not to use some type of Fiat underpinning is the top-end 8C, whose style the MiTo mimics.
As befits the most regal of the Alfa range, it uses the platform of a Maserati.
Gavin Green is a motoring journalist and consultant
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